


To the Night

by acidick



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Drugs, M/M, POV Alternating, Slow Burn, Yakuza
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-15
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:55:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 23,235
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28765167
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/acidick/pseuds/acidick
Summary: “Yamaguchi,” he said simply, even though his heart was racing in his chest.No, Kei didn’t regret taking Akiteru’s place four years ago. It was the right thing to do.But he regretted everything to do with Yamaguchi Tadashi.-----------------------It's been four years since Tsukishima joined Karasuno, the drug dealing yakuza syndicate, and he hasn't seen Yamaguchi since then. However, when Karasuno is in dire need of someone to cook their meth, Tsukishima has no choice but to ask him for help.
Relationships: Tsukishima Kei/Yamaguchi Tadashi
Comments: 23
Kudos: 54





	1. Chapter 1

Kei really did not want to be doing this.

Lugging around a dead body really should be beneath him at this point. He’d paid his dues, worked his way up the chain of command to a point where he should have been able to call someone to come clean up this whole mess. But no, Karasuno’s now ex-chemist had to stick his nose where it didn’t belong and Sawamura had to tell Kei that the situation was much too sensitive for any of the newer recruits to handle.

And now Kei was stuck trying to shove a 250 pound corpse down 7 flights of stairs into the back of a Honda Civic, and it wasn’t going well.

Frustrated and sweaty, Kei shot off a text to Sawamura asking if anyone could come help him with clean up, and thankfully received a reply telling him Kageyama would be by shortly to help him.

Needing an escape from the stench of old man sweat, Kei stepped out onto the dead man’s balcony to light up a cigarette while he waited for help to arrive. Not that he’d ever admit that he needed Kageyama’s assistance to anyone, especially not the man himself.

Kei let the acrid taste of the smoke sit in his mouth and lungs until he burned for air. He rolled it out of his mouth with a sigh, flicking ash into the street below him. He stubbed out his cigarette as he spotted Kageyama’s sleek black 911 gliding up to the curb under the streetlights, and went back inside to let him in.

“Took you long enough,” he drawled with a sneer when he opened the door.

Kageyama grunted in reply as he brushed past Kei to where the body was rolled up in a plastic sheet. “Grab his feet,” Kageyama directed as he positioned himself at the dead man’s head.

Kei wanted to argue against being told what to do, but wanted to get this over with more, so he did as he was told. With two of them, the body lifted easily, and Kei thanked whoever was out there that rigour mortis hadn’t set in yet. It’d make the body a bitch to shove into the trunk.

At the late hour, Kageyama and Kei were able to get the chemist’s body down the stairs and into the basement parkade without notice. There were, of course, cameras all throughout the building, but Azumane had disabled those before Kei had even stepped foot into the building.

“I’ll follow you to the river,” Kageyama called over his shoulder as he walked towards his own vehicle.

Kei climbed into the Honda and grimaced at the identical stench to the apartment upstairs that permeated the shitty vehicle. When he turned the car on, he realized that there was barely enough gas to get to the river. _Cheapskate_ , Kei thought to himself. No, Kei would not be sad to never have to deal with this man again after tonight.

He pulled onto the street and saw Kageyama pull out a ways behind him. Kei had to stop himself from rolling his eyes at the ostentatious vehicle. Why bother trying to keep a low profile by having Kei drive this piece of junk when Kageyama was following behind in the most recognizable import possible?

Kei drove directly to the riverbank in silence punctuated only by the changing gears. When he was close enough to the shore, he put the car into neutral and stepped out of the vehicle. He didn’t bother closing the door behind himself as he walked behind the car and pushed it into the river, only letting go when the water threatened to lap at the toes of his shoes. Kei brushed his hands off on bloodstained jeans as he walked back to Kageyama’s car.

“I guess we’re in need of a new chemist,” Kageyama said as Kei slid into the passenger seat.

“Yeah, I guess so,” was Kei’s reply.

Kageyama’s observation proved remarkably astute in the next few days.

A meeting was quickly called for all the top members of Karasuno to discuss the fallout of disposing of their main drug supplier.

“Here’s the situation,” Sawamura began once he got everyone to quiet down enough to hear him, “we all know Tamaki had to go. No one steals from us without consequences, especially not to supply their own habit. However, losing him left a giant hole in our supply chains. He had almost no product made when Tsukishima offed him, and had tested even less of our latest shipments from Afghanistan, Columbia, and Mexico. We need to replace him ASAP.”

His declaration was met with silence, or as much silence as one could expect in a room with Tanaka, Nishinoya, and Hinata all in it. They were busy swivelling around in their chairs and didn’t seem to be paying much attention, but Sawamura didn’t seem to be concerned. It’s not like they’d be able to solve this problem anyway.

Sawamura glanced to his right, where Sugawara was chewing on the end of his pen, looking deep in thought, but knowing him, he could just be stoned out of his mind. Sugawara perked up under inspection though, suggesting the first option was more likely. “I’m sure Nekoma would be happy to lend us one of their drug specialists for a while,” he suggested.

Hinata visibly brightened at the mention of Nekoma, which was impressive considering his base level of brightness at any given time seemed to be set somewhere higher than Kei’s had ever been. “Kenma could be coming to help us for a while??”

Sawamura shook his head, “I’d rather not owe Kuroo anything if I can help it, and taking his boyfriend away from him indefinitely would definitely be a big favour. We don’t even need anyone who’s worked specifically with drugs at this point, just someone who knows their way around a lab and has both the initiative to fill in the gaps in their knowledge on their own and the moral flexibility to do the job.”

Kei’s mind flashed to kind eyes framed by safety goggles and a ridiculous cowlick that refused to be bound by required hair ties against his better judgement. _That's an idea.._

Sawamura looked around the room, steadily making eye contact with everyone. His gaze was heavy, demanding truth from everyone that met it. As he went around the table, he was met with head shakes. Kei meant to do the same, but a visible hesitation led Sawamura to look at him more intently.

Kei sighed and leaned forward onto his hands, “I… might know someone.”

For the second time that week, Kei found himself wanting to be anywhere than where he was at the current moment. _Actually_ , he thought, _I’d rather be hauling that dead guy down those stairs all by myself right now._

From anyone else’s perspective, waiting around on the ground floor of the local university’s chemistry department would be much preferable to disposing of a body, but Kei wasn’t anyone else, and he was incredibly out of his element.

He hadn’t been on campus for four years since he dropped out after his first month of college to join up with Karasuno.

He also hadn’t talked to Yamaguchi since then.

He didn’t regret dropping out, he would make the same choice now as he did back then. When his brother was hurt in a turf war between Karsuno and Shiratorizawa, Kei knew Akiteru needed out of the life more than Kei needed to stay out of it. So, he went to Sawamura and begged him to let Akiteru out in one piece if Kei took his place. It wasn’t a simple transaction. Akiteru had made himself invaluable to Karasuno in the eight years he’d been a part of the organization since their parent’s death. But Akiteru had taught Kei everything he learned as he learned it, and Kei had become just as capable, if not more so, than his brother. After a quick bit of target practice, a line of coke, and a thorough quiz on the variety of weapons and drugs Karasuno dealt with on a regular basis, Sawamura declared Kei competent and let Akiteru go to heal and live on his own terms.

No, Kei didn’t regret the decision he made four years ago, especially not when he saw how happy Akiteru was in his new life with his steady job and pretty little wife.

At some signal Kei couldn’t discern, the doors to all the classrooms opened and students started pouring out. Kei stood up from where he was sitting on a bench against a wall near the main doors, buttoning his jacket as he did so. He was grateful for his many extra centimetres over the majority of the population that allowed him to look over the tops of heads to search for an unruly cowlick with ease. He stood against the wall scanning the crowd as it thinned out, and was about to settle back down to wait longer when a door at the end of the hall opened up again with the ringing of a familiar laugh.

Kei pushed himself off the wall as Yamaguchi and four girls walked out of the classroom together. As if magnets still pulled him in Kei’s direction, Yamaguchi immediately made eye contact with him and startled to a stop with a gasp that Kei could hear over the last stragglers of the crowd.

Yamaguchi’s sudden stop caused one of his companions to run into him, but he didn’t flinch or take his eyes off Kei, as if Kei would disappear if he looked away for even a second. Kei almost rolled his eyes at Yamaguchi’s dramatics, but stopped himself when he was able to get a better look at the other man through the crowd. Kei’s eyes roamed freely over the studded leather jacket and artfully ripped t-shirt and jeans tucked into loose black boots. Yamaguchi’s hair was longer than when Kei had last seen it too, long enough that Yamaguchi had tugged the top half into a messy bun to keep it out of his eyes. He looked good.

Since Yamaguchi no longer seemed capable of movement, Kei began stalking toward him, the crowd parting around him to give him a wide berth. Kei felt on display as Yamaguchi’s companions all turned to watch him walk over with identical expressions of confusion and shock.

“Yamaguchi,” he said simply, even though his heart was racing in his chest.

No, Kei didn’t regret taking Akiteru’s place four years ago. It was the right thing to do.

But he regretted everything to do with Yamaguchi Tadashi.

***

Tadashi scrubbed his face with his hands. Advanced organic synthesis was, in theory, a fascinating subject, however, when it was taught by a sixty year old russian man with an extremely thick accent at 8 AM, one tended to have trouble staying awake. Hana had already poked him twice with the butt of her pen when he had closed his eyes for what she deemed to be too long.

He wasn’t even sure why he’d bothered to show up today. Any notes he had managed to jot down were a complete mess and didn’t make any sense to him. He’d have to copy Hana’s or one of their other friend’s later.

He hadn’t meant to stay up so late, but his thesis experiment had been going really well last night and he lost track of time. By the time he got back to his apartment to make himself some dinner and finish today’s homework, he didn’t crawl into bed until four hours before he had to get up again.

He was looking forward to the hour break he had after this class. Hana and her friends had booked a study room on the ground floor of the building, and he just had to drag himself down two flights of stairs and he could take a nap while they worked on the stuff he had already completed. They always agreed to wake him up in time for his next class in exchange for his answers.

The professor dismissed the small class with a wave of his hand and Tadashi shoved his notebook and pen into his backpack open at his feet. He stretched his arms over his head as he stood up, feeling his shirt ride up on his stomach with the movement.

He also felt Hana’s eyes on him as he did so.

Tadashi had noticed her staring a lot more lately. He couldn’t decide if it was worth doing anything about yet. She was one of his oldest friends, she was beautiful, and he owed her a blood debt for her help in thermodynamics, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to get into anything serious in his last term of school. He still didn’t know where he was going to end up after this year, and he didn’t want to start something just to find out they were going to schools on opposite sides of the country.

He slipped his backpack on and followed his friends out of the class and down to the study room. He threw his completed assignments on the table and beelined for a corner of the room. Taking his backpack off, he pulled out the hoodie he kept in there for this express purpose, balled it up on the ground, and laid down on it facing the wall without a word.

Some time later, Hana gently shook him awake and laughed as he sat up.

“Wassofunny?” he asked blearily.

“Your hair developed sentience while you napped it seems, Yamayama,” she said kindly, running her hands through hair that felt like it was standing straight up.

Tadashi pushed her hands away and replaced them with his own. He groaned. Any effort he had expended this morning making his hair fall the way he liked seemed to have been completely undone. He smoothed back everything he could and pulled the hair tie off his wrist with his teeth and looped it into a loose top knot. He looked to Hana for approval, who reached over to pull a few pieces out of the tie to frame his face and sat back with a nod when she was done.

“Come on, we got class,” she said while getting up, reaching down to help him up.

Tadashi collected his assignments from where they had been scattered across the table and leaned over someone’s notebook with his phone to take pictures of the notes he missed this morning. He’d copy them into his own notes later.

“Have a good snooze?” Akari, one of Hana’s friends, asked.

“It was great,” Tadashi replied, “just could have been about a week longer.”

That got a giggle out of all the girls as they walked out of the study room. Their next class was in the next building over, so they made their way to the main doors. Tadashi glanced around at nothing in particular, but noticed there was an obvious gap in the flow of students near the entrance, as if everyone was avoiding something.

That something was staring right at Tadashi, and he gasped and stopped in the middle of the hallway under the weight of that look. He felt Hana run into him peripherally, but it didn’t even remotely register to him. The only thing that mattered right now was the man in front of him. He hadn’t seen Tsukki in four years, but he couldn’t forget him if he tried. The years seemed to have been kind to him. He had obviously put on some muscle, and his curly blond hair was shorn short on the sides but left to fall softly into his eyes on top. He had gotten new glasses too, a lighter framed pair with larger lenses that left more of his face visible than the old ones. None of this would explain the wide berth everyone was giving him, but Tsukki’s expertly tailored all black suit, combined with his perpetual arrogant glare and the way he was holding his arms away from his body as if he had something strapped to his ribs, screamed _danger_.

He looked like violence, and it was terrifying.

Tadashi drank all of this in as Tsukki walked towards him. He tried to get a handle on his breathing, knowing he only had moments before he would be expected to interact with the person who he thought he’d never see again, who had left him in the worst way possible without the promise of ever coming back.

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukki said simply, as if he hadn’t just thrown Tadashi’s entire world out of orbit.

The girls looked at him in a combination of shock and fear, as if such a simultaneously beautiful and terrifying man being here for Tadashi was the last thing they could have ever expected. Granted, Tadashi felt the same way. He never expected Tsukki to want anything to do with him ever again, and if he did, Tadashi would have expected him to call first instead of just showing up out of the blue.

“What- what are you doing here, Tsukki- Tsukishima?” he asked. He figured he wasn’t allowed to call Tsukki - no, Tsukishima - by anything but his full name anymore, even in his head.

“I need to speak to you,” Tsukishima replied flatly.

“Right now?”

Tsukishima rolled his eyes and looked pointedly at the girls, all of which had somewhat huddled behind Tadashi, as if he could protect them from what he knew to be a trained killer. “I was hoping we could go somewhere a little bit more private,” he said, his trademark snark edging back into his voice.

“Um…” _really eloquent there, Tadashi_ , “I have class for another hour and then I have a couple hours break before I need to be in the lab, if you want to meet at the coffee shop in the building next door, it’s where I have my next class so I’ll be quick after.”

Tsukishima nodded affirmatively to Tadashi’s plan, then stepped to the side. Tadashi still felt rooted to the spot, so it took him a second to realize that Tsukishima expected Tadashi to lead the way. He quickly started walking, trying not to freak out that he currently had a yakuza member tailing behind him and his friends.

_Honestly, pull yourself together._

Once they were inside the next building, he turned back to Tsukishima. “If you just wait over there,” he pointed at the small collection of tables and armchairs near the coffee shop in the corner, “my class is a floor up and I’ll come meet you in an hour.”

Tsukishima nodded again and turned towards where Tadashi had pointed.

While he walked away, Tadashi tried to calm his racing heart and ran towards the stairwell, not even caring if his friends were following him at this point. Apparently they were though, or at least Hana was, because she caught up with him and grabbed onto his arm as if to pull an explanation out of him by force.

“What the fuck was that all about??” she hissed. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but I’m pretty sure that was a member of the yakuza who walked up to you, knew your name, and knew you would know his right back. Not even to mention that he was the hottest man I’ve ever seen, no offence. Care to explain, Yamayama??”

Tadashi sighed and wrung his hands as he walked up the stairs. “I used to know him,” he stated simply. “I don’t know what he wants, we haven’t spoken in years. I honestly never expected to see him again.”

Hana huffed, obviously unsatisfied with the explanation, but Tadashi couldn’t bring himself to care or explain further. What else was there for him to say?

He slid into a desk near the back of the class and resigned himself to borrowing someone else’s notes again. How was he supposed to concentrate when his best friend just walked back into his life?


	2. Chapter 2

Kei could barely believe it. Not only had he seen Yamaguchi, he hadn’t run away or called campus security on him, and better yet agreed to talk to him. This combined with the coffee and cake that he’d bought for himself made him feel better than he had since he proposed the idea.

He settled in to wait through Yamaguchi’s class, pulling a pair of wireless headphones from his pocket and putting them in his ears. It was a classical music day, he thought, feeling particularly collegiate at the moment. 

He had to give Yamaguchi credit for going to class even after Kei surprised him. Yamaguchi had to have been rattled, at least a little bit, but he still put his education first. Kei wasn’t sure he could have done the same. He didn’t think anything could phase him anymore, but staring into those brown eyes for the first time in four years had shaken Kei in a way that nothing else had over that time.

He’d murdered, tortured, and maimed people. He’d stolen cars, dealt drugs, and ran from the cops more times than he could count. He’d done more horrible things than any normal citizen would expect to in their entire lifetime. Yet the first thing that gave him pause in that entire time was seeing Yamaguchi look up at him as if he’d never done any of those things.

As he was about to put his phone away, it lit up with a text from Sugawara.

_Any luck with your mystery chemist?_

_I saw him, and he agreed to meet with me._

_He has class for an hour and then we’re going to talk._

_Sounds good! Keep me and Daichi posted :)_

Kei snorted. No matter how many times he texted Sugawara, the idea of the bureaucratic mastermind behind a yakuza syndicate using emoticons still cracked him up. 

Kei grabbed his mug of coffee and settled back into his chair. He watched the students around him as they rushed off to classes, or typed on laptops beside propped open textbooks. He couldn’t lie, there was some part of him that was jealous. If he hadn’t dropped out, he would have been just like them. 

But then he remembered the look on his brother’s face when he looked at his wife, or the way people parted around him and treated him as the most powerful man in the room, and the jealousy ebbed away. 

What was knowledge without power? 

What could he learn here that he couldn’t from books or the internet? He certainly couldn’t learn about the rush of endorphins you get when a job you’ve planned goes off without a hitch. Nor how much the camaraderie between you and the guys you work with means when you know you’ll live and die together for the rest of your life. They definitely don’t teach you what it feels like to shoot a man point blank. 

No, Kei may not know as much as the people around him, but he knew the things that really mattered.

The thoughts soured his enjoyment of watching the people around him and he pulled out his phone again to distract himself. There was some stupid videos from Hinata in the group chat, and Kageyama was asking if Kei wanted to get lunch together. He ignored the first and replied _maybe, might be busy_ to the second. 

He pulled up social media and searched for Yamaguchi’s profile. He hadn’t let himself even consider doing this over the past four years, knowing it would just upset him, but seeing as Kei had allowed himself to see Yamaguchi in person, he figured there wouldn’t be any harm in it now. He thought wrong. There were a couple snaps of fancy looking food, some scenery he’d obviously taken on vacations across the country, and pictures of Yamaguchi and his friends. One girl in particular was in almost all the photos, and Kei recognized her as the girl who was clinging on to Yamaguchi particularly tight when Kei came up to them. The girlfriend, he guessed. You could tell from viewing it that Yamaguchi had a happy life, one without an underlying level of danger in it. And Kei was here to ruin that, to drag Yamaguchi into the underbelly of society with him. 

For the next hour, he fiddled with his phone and willed the clock to move faster. He quickly finished his drink but was having a hard time working through the rest of his cake. He slowly felt his appetite dissipating as he thought about the conversation he was about to have.

Finally, the unknown signal released everyone from their classes again, and Kei sat up and brushed invisible crumbs off his pants. The coffee shop began to fill up, and Kei was prepared to defend the chair across from him if anyone tried to take it, but no one even came close to him.

Two people penetrated the barrier Kei’s presence had formed. Yamaguchi and the same girl who clung to him before cautiously approached Kei’s table.

Kei snorted, “I don’t bite, you know.”

Yamaguchi murmured something Kei couldn’t hear to the girl to get her to let go of him and sat down while the girl turned around on her heel, swinging her skirt behind her as she left. Kei watched her go, but quickly turned his full attention back to Yamaguchi as soon as he started speaking

“I _don’t_ know anymore, Tsukishima, wasn’t that the whole point? I wasn’t supposed to- no, wasn’t _allowed_ to know you once you decided you had to leave.”

Wow, straight for the jugular. Kei was glad to see Yamaguchi hadn’t lost the spine he had been growing before they parted ways, but he wasn’t pleased to be on the receiving end of it. “Shut up, Yamaguchi. You know why I couldn’t have anything to do with you anymore, and you know why I had to do what I did. I’m not interested in rehashing the past.”

“Oh, then please, tell me what you’re here for then,” Yamaguchi spat as he sat back, words dripping with disdain. 

It was good to see he wasn’t apologizing for existing anymore. Especially not to Kei, he didn’t deserve it.

Kei sighed. “To put it simply, I need your help.”

Yamaguchi’s eyes saucered.

It was at this moment that Kei realized he had never once asked Yamaguchi for help before.

“Well, it's not just me that needs help, it’s all of us. We have a position that needs filling, and you have the skills necessary to do it,” Kei explained. “We don’t have a lot of options, and the position needs filling immediately. So I recommended you.”

Yamaguchi put his eyes back into his head and began sputtering. “You- are you kidding me- what? You have to be joking. After everything, everything you did back then, you want me to _join the yakuza??_ ” he finished in a furious whisper.

Kei nodded. “I wouldn’t be asking if it wasn’t our only option. You fit the requirements.”

“And what requirements would those be?” Yamaguchi asked, still incredulous.

“You’re a chemist, you can learn on the fly, and you have loose enough morals to do the job,” Kei shrugged.

“Okay, I can see how you know about the first two, but how do you know my ‘morals are loose’ enough?” he said, making air quotes with his fingers.

Kei smirked. “Because I used to know you, Yamaguchi, or did you forget that? I knew you wouldn’t call the cops the second you saw me, even though you should. I’m sure you’ve noticed that there are several warrants out for my arrest, they keep putting this awful photo of me on TV.”

“It’s your mugshot, Tsukishima, not an editorial spread, you’re not exactly supposed to look great.”

“Well I know that, but they still could have picked one of the better ones. Honestly, it looks like I just got pulled out of bed by five sweaty guys, and not in a fun way.” That was exactly what had happened. The police need to learn some propriety, honestly. At least Kei was allowed to get revenge for that little insult.

Yamaguchi sniggered at that, but quickly got serious again. “Okay, fine. I fit the requirements, but you still haven’t told me what the job even is.”

Here was the hard part. Kei wasn’t even remotely sure he could sell this, but he refused to risk anyone else knowing about Yamaguchi if he turned the offer down, even someone like Suga who could convince anyone of anything, so he had to do it. 

“We need you to cook our meth and test our shipments of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana we get for purity and hazards.”

“You need me to WHAT!?” Yamaguchi yelled as he stood up, drawing the attention of everyone in the entire cafe.

Kei gestured for him to sit down and be quiet with a wave of his hand.

“You heard me,” Kei said, doubling down, his voice barely above a whisper. “Our old guy was too busy using the product to actually do any of the work, so we had to get rid of him. There is a vacancy, and me and my people want you to fill it.”

“You do realize what you’re asking me to do, right. This is like, ungodly amounts of illegal, and I don’t want to end up in jail for the rest of my life like it seems I will if I even continue having this conversation with you,” Yamaguchi said, matching his pitch. 

Kei relaxed into his chair. If fear of punishment was Yamaguchi’s only hold up, Kei could convince him.

“We have a deal with the police. Why do you think I can sit here in public without any worries? I’m sure at least one of your classmates here has recognized me. Like I said, they keep putting that stupid picture of me on TV. But I’ve been here for the better part of two hours and no one’s come to get me. The police just need to seem as though they’re doing something to fight crime, but they’re not actually doing it. As long as we put clean drugs on the streets and aren’t caught red handed, Karasuno is untouchable. I can’t promise you’ll never see the inside of a jail cell, but I can guarantee you’ll never be there for more than 12 hours.”

Yamaguchi leaned back in his chair too, seeming to mull this over. Then said quietly, “I have no interest in killing people, and most of those drugs kill people. If I help you, I’m responsible for that.”

Kei took a second to weigh his words before he spoke. This was where it got tricky, and he couldn’t afford to mess it up. 

“Listen,” Kei started, slowly, “it’s either you do this or we find some random meth head who learned to cook his own poison before he fried his brain.” Karasuno would never do that, but Yamaguchi didn’t need to know that. “We need product and we need it now. Every one of us would prefer to have someone who actually understood the science behind the process; we may be in the drug business but we’d prefer not to be in the business of killing our clients. But we’ll do what we have to to survive. 

“Think of it this way, you’re going to help keep these people alive for a lot longer than anyone else. That’s time they can use to turn their life around. We didn’t get these people hooked on drugs, they did that to themselves. We do what we need to survive, same as everyone else, and this is how we do it.”

Yamaguchi just stared down at the table, absorbing Kei’s words. After a long time, he opened his mouth to speak. “Strawberry shortcake?” he asked, pointing at the half empty plate between them.

Kei was shocked into nodding without thinking about it. That was the last question he would have expected Yamaguchi to ask. 

Yamaguchi smiled with just a slight uptick of his lips. “I guess I still know parts of you.” 

He sighed. “I’m not fully confident I know the necessary procedures to do what you need off the top of my head, but I’m sure I can figure it out tonight with a little bit of research. I’m not working weekdays, and I had better be paid a fuck ton. I’ve got loans that need paying off and I want to go to grad school next year. I’ll help you until then or until you can find or train someone else, and then I’m out. Not like how Akiteru got out, I need to be able to just walk away free and clear.”

Kei had begun texting Sawamura the second Yamaguchi had started listing his demands. 

“When are you going to grad school?” Kei asked, looking up from his phone.

“Consider me gone September 1st,” Yamaguchi replied. 

Kei nodded and added that into his message.

_My guy will do it , but he won’t_ _work during the week_

_and wants us to pay off his_ _student loans + extra._

_And he wants to be able to leave without strings attached in September._

Sawamura’s reply came quickly. 

_I’m fine with his hours and_ _Suga says we can swing the $$_

_But you know we can’t have him leave like that._

_I know._

_I’ll deal with that when we get to it._

There was a delay between when the read response came through and when Sawamura replied.

_As long as you’re sure you can handle it._

Kei wasn’t sure at all, but September was a long way off.

_Just play along when he comes in, please._

_Of course._

Kei looked up from his phone to Yamaguchi. He was looking down at his lap and fiddling with a hole in his shirt near the hem. He looked nervous, but not unsure about his decision. Kei was pleased. He honestly wasn’t sure he’d be able to convince Yamaguchi after everything that happened between them. 

As if he felt the weight of Kei’s gaze on him, he looked up and met his eyes. Kei noticed several pieces of silver in Yamaguchi’s ears as he moved. They suited him. 

This was the first time Kei had gotten a good look at the man across from him. He had been avoiding looking at him directly, as if Yamaguchi’s face told secrets he didn’t want to know. He noticed dark bags under his eyes, as if he hadn’t slept properly in weeks. Knowing how Yamaguchi got when he was focused, he wouldn’t be surprised if that was the truth. 

Kei was struck out of nowhere by an intense feeling of longing. In that moment, Yamaguchi represented everything Kei could have had, if things had been different. 

And now Kei had no choice but to drag Yamaguchi into the one place he wanted to keep him from.

Clearing his throat and adjusting his posture, Kei tried to bring his mind back to the business at hand. “We can agree to your terms. I’m sure Sugawara will want to talk to you more about specifics, but for now know that you’re covered that way,” he said. “Since I’m the one vouching for you, you’re my responsibility, but I can also advocate for you to an extent, so if you need anything else, don’t be afraid to ask.”

Yamaguchi nodded, “When do I start?”

“How long do you need to do your research?” Kei countered.

“Oh, not longer than an hour, I just have to dig through my old notes. Honestly, I’ll probably start as soon as you leave, I’m not going to be able to focus on much else” Yamaguchi replied.

“Great,” Kei said, feeling the corners of his mouth quirk up, “seeing as that won’t take long, and since it’s Friday, I’ll come pick you up at midnight.”

Yamaguchi sputtered.

Kei bit back a laugh. “You said you wouldn’t work during the week, and since that’ll technically be the weekend, you’re on the clock. Like I said, we need product as fast as possible. Plus, you’ll be able to meet everyone. Friday’s our busiest night, all the important people’ll be around.”

Kei stood up and extended his hand to shake, and Yamaguchi mirrored him after only a slight hesitation. Kei tried to ignore the twing of electricity that shot up his arm as he grasped Yamaguchi’s hand and said simply, “I look forward to working with you, Yamaguchi.”

The other man still had somewhat of a dazed look on his face, but managed a soft “likewise,” before letting go. 

As he left campus in his sleek black sedan, Kei finally let himself smile fully in a way he hadn’t in years.

Yamaguchi was back in his life.

***

Tadashi had one question for the universe:

How the fuck did he get himself in this situation?

He was currently wearing a hole through his living room carpet while mulling this seemingly unanswerable question over. Was it simply shock that made him say yes? Did he crave more excitement in his life? Was it the money that tempted him? Was it because Tsukishima asked and Tadashi had never quite figured out how to say no to him? There was no logical solution to this problem.

Hana was sitting on his cramped couch watching him walk back and forth as he pulled his hair and worried his fingers, his stress needing more than one physical outlet. They had a standing study date at his apartment every Friday after their last lab together, mostly so Hana knew he was going home on the weekends, and Tadashi couldn’t come up with a good enough excuse on the fly to cancel. The problem with normal was they usually ended up drinking their way through more than one six pack on Fridays, and Tadashi usually let Hana to sleep off the booze on his couch rather than make her take the train back to her own place late at night. But there was no way Tadashi could drink before Tsukishima came around to get him, no matter how much he needed it, and there was no way Hana could be here when Tsukishima showed up. 

Hana had tried to give Tadashi the first degree when he finally met up with her again, but he had clammed up and refused to tell her anything. She kept asking as they were studying, obviously curious about his frazzled state, but Tadashi hadn’t let anything slip. An unknown number calling itself Tsukishima had texted asking for his address ten minutes ago, and there were only five more to midnight. Hana needed to leave, now.

“Yamayama, can you please just come sit down and talk to me? You’re scaring me,” Hana coaxed, as if Tadashi was a wild animal.

“Hana,” he said, stopping his pacing to look at her, “I can’t tell you what happened this morning, and I don’t think I ever will be able to, but someone is coming over here at midnight about that business, and you can’t be here when they do.”

“Are you in danger?” Hana asked, eyes wide with concern, “I can help you if you are, you know I’m always there for you.”

Tadashi sighed, “I don’t think so, but I do know that the situation has the potential to get dangerous, and that I don’t want you anywhere near it. I got myself into this, but you didn’t, so you shouldn’t have any part of this.”

Hana looked at him hard, as if trying to read the truth in his eyes. She seemed to be satisfied with what she found there, and moved to pack up her things, but Tadashi knew she wouldn’t let this be the end of it. 

She pulled her coat and shoes on at the door, stopping with her hand on the door knob, as if thinking. Suddenly, she spun around and hugged Tadashi firmly, as though he’d disappear if she let go too soon.

Tadashi squirmed in her grip, more desperate for her to leave than any sentiments she was trying to impress into him.

“Call me when you can,” Hana said, as she let go, opening the door and walking down the steps. Tadashi watched her round the corner before pulling the door closed and leaning against it. He allowed himself two deep breaths before spurring into motion.

He quickly emptied out his backpack of his school supplies and shoved in his lab coat, goggles, necessary notes, and several cans of energy drinks. On second thought, he threw a toothbrush, a spare change of underwear, and his phone charger in there as well. He had no idea whether he’d be coming home at all this weekend, and felt it best to be prepared for anything. 

He had just finished zipping up his bag and was contemplating changing out of what he’d worn to school when he heard a soft knock at the door. Sucking in a breath through his teeth, he quickly grabbed his keys and shoved his feet into his boots before opening the door.

He shouldn’t have been surprised to see Tsukishima on the other side, he had been expecting him after all, but the sight still took his breath away. 

“Hi,” Tadashi breathed.

“Hey,” Tsukishima replied, not quite looking at him.

“Shall we?”

Tsukishima nodded, and Tadashi shut the door and locked it behind him, gesturing for the other man to lead the way. Tsukishima led him just down the street to a black sedan, which Tadashi couldn’t recognize but screamed _expensive_. They climbed in, Tadashi hugging his backpack to his chest as if the thin canvas could protect him from whatever was going to happen tonight. Tsukishima started the engine with a push of a button and with a quiet purr pulled out into the street. 

They sat in uncomfortable silence for a while until, surprisingly, Tsukishima broke it.

“Did you have a nice night with your girlfriend?”

What in the actual hell. “Huh?” Tadashi turned to look at Tsukishima.

“You know, the girl who left right before I came to get you? The same one who clung to you like a lost puppy this morning and is in like half of your social media posts?”

Tadashi rolled his eyes and snorted. “You mean Hana? Our night was alright, I guess. Little weird because I couldn’t tell her why she had to leave when she normally stays the night on the weekends, but we studied as best we could around that.”

“Tch,” was all Tsukishima replied.

The rest of the drive was consumed by silence with the only sound being soft classical music being played through the speaker. Tadashi was surprised to see that Tsukishima’s music taste seemed to have refined with his wardrobe. He had been going through a pretty serious EDM phase the last Tadashi knew. 

Twenty minutes later, Tsukishima parallel parked the car with an efficiency that said he did it often, and motioned for Tadashi to get out. 

They were on a fairly busy street, the sidewalks packed with pedestrians. Like this morning, the crowd parted easily for Tsukishima, and Tadashi found himself following in his wake. This, at least, was familiar ground.

Tsukishima led him through what seemed to be a normal pachinko hall, his pale features seeming to glow amidst all the neon lights. He brushed past groups of elderly women clustered around machines to the back of the room, not once turning around to make sure Tadashi was following him. He was, of course, but the way Tsukishima had just assumed he would be there made him bristle with irritation. Then he remembered where he was being led, and sped up a little to walk closer to the other man. Tsukishima may be an ass, but he was an ass Tadashi knew. 

Tsukishima knocked on a seemingly innocuous door in the back wall, which was opened by a man with a shaved head and a shark-like grin after a pause. 

“So this is Tsukishima’s fresh meat,” the man said.

“Fuck off, Tanaka,” Tsukishima spat, “let us through.”

The man, Tanaka, waved his hands and stepped out of the way. He stared at Tadashi like he was something to eat, and Tadashi fought hard against his urge to recoil away from him and stared him down right back. He still wasn’t sure what he had gotten himself into, but he was certain he didn’t want to show any weakness. Tanaka chuckled to himself as he shut the door, following Tadashi down the stairs when he had relocked it. 

Tadashi was shocked that the warehouse type room he found himself in could have been hidden behind the pachinko hall, but as he was led across a catwalk around the perimeter of the room, he realized that the room was mostly underground, the only sources of light being large round lamps encased in wire hanging from the ceiling. Several of the cages were sporting obvious dents, and Tadashi wondered what on earth could have gotten up there with so much force. The floor of the warehouse was filled with tables, each manned by at least two people. Tadashi could see scales and plastic bags covering all the tables, and realized that these people were portioning the drugs for sale. There were a couple people roaming around the tables collecting the baggies and bringing them over to a table at the head of the room, which was overseen by a tidy haired man with a clipboard who switched between marking things off on his papers and shoving the packages into backpacks and into the hands of waiting teenagers in exchange for stacks of cash. It appeared to be a well oiled system, but Tadashi could already see missing cogs in the machine where supply was low. 

Tsukishima led Tadashi across the room to a glass walled room in which Tadashi could see two men. One of them had close cropped dark hair and a sturdy build, while the other was willowy with hair that reflected silver in the light. The bigger man motioned for them to enter through the window when they had reached the door, and Tsukishima quickly turned the door handle and led them in, allowing Tanaka to close the door with himself outside the room.

The dark haired man drew himself up to his full height from where he was leaning up against the desk, causing Tadashi to realize just how close he had been to the other man. He wondered if there was more between them than just business. 

All thoughts of that kind quickly evaporated from his mind though as the dark haired man came walking up to Tadashi, stopping only inches away from his face. He was a little shorter than Tadashi, but his presence was so strong that Tadashi felt a foot shorter than him. He peered up at him closely, much more intently than Tsukishima had, and Tadashi schooled his features into passive neutrality, forcing himself not to waver under the scrutiny. 

After what felt like an eternity, the man stepped back and in a complete change of character, broke into a friendly smile and extended a hand to shake.

“You must be Yamaguchi,” he said. “I’m Sawamura Daichi, I’m in charge of this entire operation. Please call me Sawamura, everyone else does.”  
“Well, not _everyone_ ,” the silver haired man interrupted with a grin. 

Sawamura smiled back at him. “Of course, Suga. You are, as usual, the exception to every rule.”

Oh, there was definitely something going on there. 

“This, of course, is Sugawara Koushi. He’s in charge of legal and finances for us, and he’s the one who’ll handle your compensation. He’s second in command here, so if you need me and can’t find me, find him.”

Sugawara slid out of his chair and glided toward Tadashi to stand beside Sawamura, hand extended.

“Just call me Suga,” he said as they shook. He had an angelic face, but Tadashi knew that anyone who ended up second in command to a yakuza syndicate was definitely anything but. “A lot of us have been looking forward to meeting you. Tsukishima has literally never admitted to knowing anyone before, even us, so we’ve been curious as to who you are. I’m not going to lie, I never would have expected someone so… fascinating looking. Love the earrings, by the way. I’ve always wanted to get mine done, but then no one would ever take me seriously in a courtroom ever again, unfortunately,” he sighed. 

“Thank you, Suga,” he replied, unconsciously reaching up to twirl one of the many studs. 

“Alright,” Suga said with a clap of his hands. “Let's get down to business.” 

He twirled around and sat back down in the chair he had just vacated, gesturing for Tadashi to take the one beside him. Tadashi waited until Sawamura moved to sit on the other side of the desk before joining, leaving Tsukishima to stand near the door. 

“Tsukishima mentioned you wanted to pay off your student loans in his text,” Sawamura started.

Tadashi nodded. “I have about 2.5 million yen in loans right now, but I was hoping doing this would also have me walking away with money to pay for grad school,” he explained. “I figure since I’ll likely be helping provide your operation with a lot more than that in product, I should be compensated fairly.”

Suga nodded along while Tadashi spoke. “It’ll be a bit before we can get anything to you, we’re a little tight right now with everything, and there are other people who need to be paid before you. But does 5 million over the eight months you’ll be with us sound good?”

Tadashi struggled to keep his face neutral as he nodded.

“Don’t worry about us not keeping our end of the deal, something tells me Tsukishima here will be checking on us regularly for your money,” Sawamura added with a laugh.

Tadashi heard Tsukishima ‘tch’ his tongue behind him, and could imagine the flustered expression he was making.

“Okay! If that’s settled, there’s just one more question I have for you, Yamaguchi,” Suga said. Something had shifted in his expression, and Tadashi could see the violence he had known he was capable of clearly now. “How much do you know about Karasuno?”

“If you’re asking if I know about how you make most of your money,” he began, pausing to clear his throat, “then yes, obviously. I’m here to help you with that. If you’re asking how much I know about the other sides of the business, I was around when the other Tsukishima was injured and I know the circumstances that led to that happening. I know some of what was taught, brother to brother, and I figured out more than what I was explicitly told on top of that. I know what happens to people who talk more than they should, and I’m smart enough to know that it’s in my best interest never to even risk you accusing me of such. But despite all that, I came here of my own volition. My reasons for doing so are my own, but rest assured, you will not have any trouble out of me.”

Sawamura and Suga sat in silence when he finished speaking, exchanging a look that was full of unsaid things, but were apparently satisfied and stood in unison, leaving Tadashi scrambling to follow their example. Sawamura reached out to shake his hand again.

“I look forward to working with you for the next few months, Yamaguchi.” He looked to Tsukishima, then continued. “Tsukishima will show you to our lab. He’s agreed to look after you while you’re with us-” 

He was interrupted by a barely concealed snort from Suga. “More like he wouldn’t let anyone else even offer to do it.”

“-so if you have any questions, or need anything, text him, and he’ll get it sorted for you,” Sawamura finished, throwing a glare at Suga, who snickered behind his hand.

At that, Tsukishima did an about face and wrenched open the door. Tanaka stumbled into the room at this, he must have been leaning pretty hard on the door. He opened his mouth to complain, but when he looked up at Tsukishima, let it go without a word. Tadashi brushed past him in his hurry to keep up with Tsukishima, who had yet to look at him all evening. He led Tadashi down a series of rickety spiral stairs to a room tucked in one of the corners that Tadashi hadn’t been able to see from the catwalk. 

The lab, if it could even be called that, was a disaster area. The floor was littered with ground out cigarette butts and empty chemical containers. Stacks of paper littered almost every available surface, and Tadashi was overwhelmed by the smell of gas leaking from the nozzles on the counter. There was a thick layer of goo and grime coating the counters Tadashi could see underneath all the mess as well. It was a bomb waiting to go off, and Tadashi marvelled at how the last occupant had been able to smoke in here without blowing his entire face away.

“This is where you’ll be working,” Tsukishima said, but Tadashi wasn’t listening. He was too busy running around heaving shut all the gas nozzles. More than one was left half open, and Tadashi was alarmed to find one he had to crank more than once all the way around to get the hissing to stop. 

“How the _fuck_ haven’t you all noticed there was gas leaking in here?? It stinks like rotten eggs in here” he asked, incredulous.

“Oh,” Tsukishima says. “I guess that explains everyone’s headaches the past few days.”

Tadashi scoffs and throws up his hands at this. “I can’t work like this. There is far too much shit in here and everything is filthy. If you want me to turn out anything you guys can use over the weekend, you’ll have to get more people in here to help me clean this.”

“I’ll go find people,” Tsukishima says as he leaves. 

“Get a garbage bin or five while you’re at it,” Tadashi muttered after him. 

He turns around and stares at the room more. There were cases of pseudoephedrine tablets lining the back wall, and opening one of the cabinets, Tadashi found red phosphorus and hydriodic acid and its corresponding base. There were also the necessary binding agents in there as well, and canisters of hydrogen chloride gas were leaned precariously against one of the countertops. If this lab was nothing else, it was well supplied. 

Tadashi had just started shuffling through the papers, determining them to be the mindless ramblings of someone who was definitely not sober, when Tsukishima came back with three people in tow. 

The two shorter ones immediately bounded up to Tadashi, heedless of the garbage in their paths. 

“Hi there!” the one with orange hair said. “I’m Hinata, and you must be Yamaguchi! When Tsukishima said he was bringing someone he knew in to help us out, I pictured someone a lot more like him, you know, all _humph_ and _grrr_ , but you don’t seem anything like that! I’m excited to get to know someone who knew Tsukishima before he joined up! Was he less mean when you knew him? I call him Saltyshima sometimes when he’s being really rude, you know. How come you deci-“

“I’m Nishinoya,” the spiky-haired man beside Hints said, cutting him off. “I’m head of security here, but since you’re the greatest security risk we’ve had here since Kiyoko decided to grace us with her presence two years ago, I figured I could help you out. I tried to get Asahi to come help too, but he said you’re scary looking so he’s hiding behind his computer screens again.”

Tadashi found himself flustered, and rubbed at the back of his neck. “Nice to meet you two, I appreciate you helping me out here, the lab needs more work than I had expected.” Tadashi was breaking his promise to himself to remain stoic, but he figured if he was going to get comfortable, these two were safe enough to do so in front of. 

The third man beside Tsukishima didn’t volunteer any information about himself, but at an elbow from Tsukishima said simply “Kageyama.” Tadashi figured that was probably his name and acknowledged it with a nod. 

“If you guys could throw out everything on the floors and counters, I’ll start scrubbing everything down.”

It felt weird to be giving orders, but all four men immediately jumped into action, producing brooms and garbage bags seemingly from nowhere. Tadashi himself found rags and soap under one of the sinks and got to work. All five of them worked in companionably silence, only the sounds of glass being swept up and scrubbing interrupting it. This surprised Tadashi. He had expected them to ask him a ton of questions, but instead they worked with practiced efficiency, and a job that would have taken Tadashi most of the night only took the five of them the better part of the hour. 

“Thanks for your help everyone,” Tadashi said when they were all done. 

“It was no problem at all Yamaguchi! It was nice to meet you! We’ll see you around!” said Hinata as he left, dragging several garbage bags behind him. 

The other two helpers followed behind him without fanfare, and once again Tadashi was alone with Tsukishima. 

When had being alone together gotten so incredibly awkward? 

Things used to be as easy as breathing between the two of them. When one of them moved, the other followed. Like magnets, they had been drawn together by some unseen force. They could talk about anything or nothing, but the nothings had never weighed as heavy as this one. This was back-breaking. 

It all hit him at once as they stood there, determinately not looking at each other. If Tsukishima cutting himself out of his life was like severing a limb, being here with him now was like watching it get sewn onto another person. 

He bit his lip to stop himself saying anything. What was there to say? 

Quietly, as if no one was meant to hear it, “it’s good to see you again,” rang throughout the room. Tadashi snapped his eyes to where Tsukishima had been standing, but the space was already empty, and he heard the click of the door shutting him in alone.

Tadashi sighed. He dug into his backpack for his lab coat from where he’d placed it near the door, and did the only thing he could in this situation. He got to work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank u for reading :))  
> I'm so grateful for the positive response my silly little story got so far!! To everyone who commented or left kudos, thank u thank u thank u, every single one made my day.  
> If anyone has any thoughts on this new chapter I'd love to hear them, they motivate me to write more than anything!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> CW: graphic depictions of violence and allusions to sex trafficking

Somewhere between asking for Yamaguchi’s address and walking up to his door, Kei decided he was one of the stupidest people ever to exist.

This feeling only compounded as he led Yamaguchi around their headquarters. What the hell was he playing at, bringing Yamaguchi here? This wasn’t any place for people who had things to lose.

But as he watched Yamaguchi stand tall against Sawamura’s inspection, stare down Sugawara as he announced his lack of fear, and order the four to clean of them with an authority that suggested he was used to being obeyed, Kei began to feel stupid for a whole other reason.

He had expected Yamaguchi to crumble and crack. For him to need Kei to step in and protect him as he had when they were young. But Yamaguchi had lived without him for years, had given up on the hope that Kei would be around to help fight his battles for him. He had become his own person - an incredibly strong person - without Kei there to see it. 

Kei was caught up in his thoughts as he made his rounds that evening. On more than one occasion he had to recount the money he was supposed to be collecting, and the bullet he fired hit its target a few inches to the left, rather than right between the eyes like he preferred. He didn’t make any mistakes, but he wasn’t his normal self either. 

He was trying to snap himself out of it while walking to his next stop when his phone lit up in his hand. It was Yamaguchi’s number. It hadn’t changed since Kei stopped talking to him all those years ago, and Kei couldn’t forget the sequence if he tried. 

He answered on the second ring. “Hello.”

“Hey Tsukishima, I’ve got everything going - it’s going great - but I have like 6 hours to kill before the next time I have to do anything, so I was wondering if there was anything I should be doing in the meantime? I know you mentioned testing other stuff? Should I start that?”

“Let me ask Sawamura quickly,” he replied as he composed the text. “Is there anything else you need?” he asked as he brought his phone back up to his face

“Aha, nope! I’ve got everything I need here. Really relaxed and calm, totally not freaking out about how you left me all alone in a compound full of drug dealers and trained killers,” Yamaguchi replied. 

Kei snickered. At least Yamaguchi still felt comfortable enough to tease him. Those few moments where they were left alone together in the lab earlier felt as if everything was irreparable, and Kei had to leave as fast as possible to escape it. Kei knows he deserves less than nothing from Yamaguchi, but it was still painful to see the consequences his actions reflected so plainly on Yamaguchi’s face.

The phone buzzed against his face with Sawamura’s response. “He says he’s going to come talk to you in a bit. Try not to piss him off, I’m on the other side of town and it would be a pain in the ass to come back just to maim you for him.”

Yamaguchi was quiet on the other end for a while, and Kei worried he had misjudged how far Yamaguchi’s willingness to pretend that they were okay extended. 

“Can I ask how high up the chain of command you are?”

Once again, Kei was surprised by Yamaguchi’s line of thinking, but answered truthfully. He would have to find out eventually.

“There’s twelve of us within the inner circle,” he began. “Everyone you met while I was there is a member of that elite group. You’ll meet the rest of them in time, well, except for our two intelligence guys, they’re rarely around and are mostly invisible when they are. Within that, I’d say I rank around number eleven. I’m one of the newest recruits within that group, most of them grew up in the organization. The only one newer than me in that group is Kiyoko, but she’s been doing this longer than anyone else, just with another organization.”

Yamaguchi pondered his words. “Can I ask how you advanced so quickly?”

“No,” he said. leaving no room for argument. There were certain things that Kei wouldn’t tell him, for his own sake. “I should go, I have work to do. Sawamura should be by soon. Goodbye.” He hung up before Yamaguchi could say anything else. 

He shoved his phone into his pocket forcefully and withdrew his pack of cigarettes instead. He lit one up and leaned against a railing outside the dry cleaning business he was supposed to be collecting money from. They paid Karasuno a cut of both their legal and illegal profits for protection from the other groups and the police. It was one of their biggest clients, because a whore house in this part of town basically prints money, but it was the stop Kei always looked forward to the least. Sawamura always wanted him to go down into the brothel itself to make sure the girls weren’t being treated poorly, and while none of them were explicitly being hurt, there was a deadness behind their eyes that told him these girls weren’t here by choice.

As he smoked, the door in front of him opened. This in itself was unusual. Kei knew the legal half of the business had closed hours ago, and the other half of it ran out the alley. What made the situation even more strange was that Kei recognized the man who opened said door. 

“Tendou,” he said, standing up.

“Ahhhh, Tsukishima! What a surprise to see you!” God, Kei couldn’t stand this guy. It was like everything he did was meant to dig directly under your skin.

“What are you doing here?”

“Oh you know, just picking up a suit jacket.” Kei noticed the plastic bag covered hanger thrown over Tendou’s shoulder. “I spilt fondue _all_ down the front of it! It was at this super important meeting too, and honestly, if it was anyone else, I think Wakatoshi would have had them shot for being such an embarrassment! It’s good that I’m so irreplaceable! Semi and Shirabu said he should have shot me anyway, but I think they’re just jealous that ‘Toshi likes me more than them. I have to ask though, who the fuck serves fondue at such-”

“I meant why are you here at _this_ dry cleaners, Tendou. Is Shiratorizawa’s place not good enough for you?”

Tendou grinned. “I just didn’t want to bother them with such a _dreadful_ job. Also, for some reason, the employees aren’t scared of me anymore. I guess there’s only so many times you can get barbecue sauce stains out of the same suit pants before you no longer worry about the guy cutting you up with knives.”

Kei ground his teeth. He knew all about Tendou’s knives.

“But the main reason I came all the way over to this gunky place was to see you, cutie.” Tendou stepped close to Kei. “How’s your brother doing? I hear he was able to actually walk down the aisle recently. Most of my other playthings can’t even sit up when I’m done with them, if they even live. You must have really shelled out for his treatment.”

Kei wanted to shove Tendou’s face through a brick wall. Instead, he schooled his expression and forced out a terse “do you have a point?”

“Of course! We just wanted to let you know that we’ve been keeping an eye on you. You have an awful lot of potential, you know. The way you’ve been advancing in Karasuno is just… marvelous to watch. Reminds me of me, really.” Tendou reaches out with one long, slender finger to trace Kei’s jawline. “You may look harmless compared to someone like me, but you have no morals at all, Tsukishima. You’ll do anything to anyone. You _want_ to do it,” he whispered in Kei’s ear, running chills down his spine. 

Tendou stepped back. “Shiratorizawa lets me do that, it helps keep my reputation up, you see. Wakatoshi points me and my knives in the right direction, and then lets the Monster work his magic.” He pulled one said knife out of his pocket and brandished it playfully. “They’d let you do the same, you know. There’s always room for someone as fucked up as you with us.”

“I have no interest in joining up with the likes of you, Tendou. I may not have any morals, but I am vain, and purple just isn’t my colour,” Kei drawled, trying to convey exactly how seriously he took the offer. 

Tendou snorted. “I’ll let you think about it then. You know where to find us if you change your mind.” He turned to walk away, but called over his shoulder, “things are about to change, Tsukishima, you’ll come around.”

With that, Tendou shoved his hands deep into his pants pockets and whistled what sounded an awful lot like ABBA as he walked away. Kei watched him until he rounded a corner three blocks down, only unclenching his hand from the switchblade in his pocket when he was out of sight. His cigarette had burned down to the filter as they had been talking, so Kei lit himself a second off the remains of the first, leaning back on the railing. There had been fresh blood on the hem of Tendou’s garish purple pants, so Kei knew whatever was waiting for him inside wouldn’t be pretty. 

He ground out his smoke and wrenched open the door. Immediately, he was hit with the strong stench of ammonia. Apparently the man Kei was supposed to meet had pissed himself. When Kei moved around the counter to see his corpse, he wasn’t surprised. In typical Tendou style, the man had been hamstrung, rendering his legs useless. This allowed Tendou to do as he pleased without having to worry about tying his victims down. And he did as he pleased. Shallow slices ran the length of each of the man’s limbs. Each one was carefully placed to avoid all the major arteries and veins, Kei noticed. He hadn’t been allowed to die until Tendou wanted him to. The final blow, the one that Tendou always used to finish his victims off, was a deep smile cut into the man’s neck. 

With one last apathetic glance at the corpse, Kei made his way through the winding racks of suits and dresses to the false wall that opened, leading to the brothel. As he made his way downstairs, he was greeted with a larger scale of the scene upstairs. Each corpse, and there were many, was treated as an anatomy lesson. Some were missing entire limbs, others had been opened up in the middle and their organs rearranged. One body had giant swaths of skin missing, and Kei was loath to imagine where that had ended up. 

As he walked through, he kept a mental count of how many bodies there were, and also kept a lookout for any cash, but was unable to find any. Looks like Tendou had gotten that as well. Sighing, Kei went back upstairs and out the door, pulling out his phone to call Sawamura. 

“Hey Tsukishima, you’re on speaker, I’m just in the middle of explaining some stuff to Yamaguchi, can I call you back in-”

“Tendou was at the dry cleaners,” he heard two sharp intakes of breath at that. “There’s sixteen disassembled patrons and prostitutes, on top of the three staff. All the cash is gone, too. Do you want me to call Hinata or the cleaners?”

Sawamura considered this for a moment. “From what you saw, do you think they would be able to tell if Tendou had been there if we use Hinata? I don’t want a poor job of cleaning this up to give Shiratorizawa reason to come at us again soon if Tendou is arrested for it, but I'd rather handle this internally.”

Kei thought about it. “It should be okay as long as the fire burns hot enough to burn everything except bone. There's a couple whose limbs he took off, but as long as we position those right, no one should be able to suspect they were removed.”

“Alright, sounds good. Call Hinata and tell him what needs to be done. I’ll call my people in the fire department to make sure it burns long enough for everything that needs to disappear does so. Do the rest of your rounds once Hinata gets there, then come right back so we can talk about our next moves.”

Kei mumbled ‘okay, bye’ and hung up, immediately dialing Hinata. 

“Hey,” he said, once he heard the call connect. “I have a job for you.”

***

Sawamura had been in the middle of explaining how much of the heroin needed to be tested for purity when his phone rang. When he saw who it was, he put the call on speaker.

“Hey Tsukishima, you’re on speaker, I’m just in the middle of explaining some stuff to Yamaguchi, can I call you back in-”

“Tendou was at the dry cleaners,” Tsukishima said plainly. Tadashi sucked in a breath. He recognized that name as the man who had hurt Akiteru, and had started this whole mess all those years ago.

He knew Sawamura and Tsukishima had continued talking, but Tadashi wasn’t listening. He wasn’t sure why he had assumed that Tendou had been dealt with after what he had done to Akiteru, but apparently he had been allowed to walk free, even in Karasuno territory. He remembered seeing the older Tsukishima in his hospital bed, his legs completely covered in bandages. He remembered holding his friend’s hand as the doctor told him that it would take years of surgery and rehab for Akiteru to even walk again. Even Tadashi thought the man should have been killed for what he did.

Sawamura hung up the call. “Sorry Yamaguchi, change of plans. Just try and get some sleep or something until you need to work on the glass again. There should be a cot around here somewhere. I’ll talk to you when I can,” he said as he left.

He hadn’t realized how tired he was until Sawamura mentioned it, but as soon as he did, felt himself hit a wall. Tadashi had been running on mostly adrenaline all day, and this had turned into the most stressful 24 hours of his life, so far at least. 

He dug around in the storage closet and found the cot Sawamura mentioned shoved in the back. He laid it out near the back of the lab, away from anything that could injure him by accident, and set an alarm. Tadashi didn’t expect to be able to sleep, expecting his racing thoughts and fear of his location to keep him up, but the exhaustion of the day won out and he fell asleep almost instantly. 

He didn’t stay asleep for long though, jolting upright when he heard the door to the lab slam open. As he rubbed the sleep from his eyes, he saw Tsukishima stalking towards him.

“Come with me,” he said, grabbing Tadashi’s arm and yanking him upright. Tadashi was just able to snag his phone from where it was beside him on the counter to shove it in the pocket of his lab coat before Tsukishima was pulling him forcefully from the room and marching him up to what seemed to be a board room. 

The room was chaotic when they entered, but everyone stopped and stared when Tsukishima pushed him into a chair and plopped down rather ungracefully beside him. 

“Tsukishima, are you sure he should be here for this?” Tanaka asked.

“If anyone has a problem with Yamaguchi being here, they can take it up with me,” Tsukishima said, glaring daggers at anyone who dared to look at him, including Sawamura.

Tadashi sank slightly in his seat, checking the time on his phone. It was 3 AM, meaning he had only been asleep for an hour, and he decided that while that was not nearly long enough to deal with whatever bullshit was going to happen now, he’d have to make the best of it and try not to make a fool of himself if possible. 

Sawamura used the quiet Tsukishima had generated to clear his throat and gesture for everyone else to sit down. “Alright everyone, seeing as we have a new person joining us today, I’ll introduce you all. For anyone who doesn’t know, this is Yamaguchi Tadashi, Tsukishima brought him in to replace Tamaki. He’s new to the game but smarter than most of you, so don’t give him any shit.” Tadashi returned the nod Sawamura gave him in acknowledgement.

“Yamaguchi, you already know who Suga and I are,” he continued, and the silver-haired man waved from his seat at Sawamura’s right hand, “and I believe you met Nishinoya, our head of security. The guy beside him is Azumane Asahi.” A giant of a man whose face was mostly hidden behind a curtain of long brown hair nodded slightly from between Sawamura and the spiky-haired man. “He’s in charge of anything and everything to do with computers.” 

He gestured to Nishinoya’s other side. “Tanaka walked you in, he’s one of the fighters we have on our payroll who likes to lend a hand as muscle.” The only woman in the room was sitting next to Tanaka, and Sawamura pointed to her next. “That’s Shimizu Kiyoko, she’s our master of anything sharp. Knives, swords, you name it, if it involves a blade she’s the best at it. For some reason, she left her old crew to run with us when she met Tanaka, and we thank every single deity daily that she did so.” That got a laugh out of a few people, and Tadashi saw Shimizu slip a hand off the table to grab Tanaka’s, causing him to grin like he couldn’t believe his luck. 

“This is Ennoshita Chikara, he helps me out with the bookkeeping,” Suga said with a gesture to the clean cut man beside him, who inclined his head. “The guy beside him is Kageyama Tobio, our sharpshooter, and of course you know Tsukishima, our resident demon,” he finished with a joking lilt in his tone.

Tadashi saw Tsukishima stiffen at the description. _Interesting._ The way he reacted reminded Tadashi of how he refused to answer his earlier questions. It seemed like even though Tsukishima was letting him into his world again, he didn’t want him knowing what he actually did to earn his keep. 

“Hinata should be back soon,” Sawamura continued. “He’s just working on the fire at the dry cleaners, he’s our arson specialist. We’re still missing Narita and Kinnoshita, but they’re out doing recon for us and I’ll catch them up on anything they missed later.”

Just then, there was a rumbling from outside the room as someone ran up the metal stairs and onto the catwalk, bursting through the door a moment later. “Sorry I’m late!” Hinata called.

“Idiot!” Kageyama, of all people, called. “Stop making a big scene when you come in!”

“You’re the one making a scene!”

“No, you are!”

“You’re the one yelling!”

“You started it!”

“OKAY,” Sawamura interrupted. “Hinata, sit down so we can get started. I want us to have a plan before sunrise and neither of you are helping,” he huffed. “We all know by now what happened, so here’s what we’re going to do about it. Firstly, we need to figure out why they attacked us to begin with. Kino and Narita have already started looking into that, but Asahi, I want you to help them out as much as you can. Go through security footage, bug phones, whatever you need to do to figure it out. I want answers. Tanaka!”

The man snapped his head up from where he was playing paper football with Nishinoya. “Yeah, boss?”

“Go make yourself visible around the rest of the businesses that pay us for protection when you’re not training. I don’t want anybody getting nervous and leaving us for Shiratorizawa. Take Kiyoko with you, I want people to know we’re serious.”

“Ah, come on, I can be serious.”

“No you cannot. I don’t even know why you’re complaining, you get to spend the next couple weeks with your girlfriend.”

Shimizu raised one perfectly arched eyebrow at that, and Tanaka blanched. “Babe- no- I just meant-”

“Figure that shit out later,” Sawamura interrupted, sparing some of the poor man’s dignity with a wave of his hand. Tanaka put his head in his hands and missed the knowing smirks Sawamura and Shimizu exchanged. “Noya, I want you to lock us down. Interview anyone we brought on in the past few weeks again and get rid of anyone you’re even remotely suspicious of.”

Everyone stared at Tadashi as if he had suddenly grown a second head. “Does that include..” Noya trailed off, pointing at him cautiously.

Tadashi put his hands up in front of himself. “I’m happy to talk to anyone about why I’m here, I really have nothing to hide-

“Shut up, Yamaguchi.” 

“Sorry, Tsukki.” 

Tadashi realized his mistake when he realized everyone was looking at Tsukki- no, _Tsukishima, he’s only Tsukishima to you now,_ with amusement. He had been so caught up in his own head that he responded without thinking. He looked at Tsukishima and saw a faint blush dusting his cheeks, and Tadashi slid farther down in his chair in embarrassment. 

Tsukishima cleared his throat and leaned forward, “ _I said_ , if anyone has a problem with Yamaguchi, they take it up with me. No one asks him anything about Shiratorizawa, no one suspects him of being a rat, and no one even _looks_ at him like that again without losing a fucking eye. Have I made myself clear?” Only a few people met the glare Tsukishima wielded like a knife around the table. Sawamura nodded solemnly at his promise, and Shimizu stared at Tadashi like he was a puzzle that needed solving, but Suga was smiling wickedly at him with bloodshot eyes, and that scared Tadashi more than anything Tsukishima said. “I’ll do whatever you want me to during the week,” Tsukishima continued, “but from now on when Yamaguchi’s here I’m here.”

“Fine,” Sawamura said. “Now, if you’re done, as I was saying…”

Tadashi knew he should keep paying attention, but he found he couldn’t. His eyes kept coming back to rest on Tsukishima’s profile as he considered what the other man had said. He didn’t know why he was surprised. Tsukishima had been protecting him since the beginnings of their friendship. First it had been playground bullies, then kids who said mean things about Tadashi behind his back, and then from the horrors of Tsukishima’s own life. Cutting all ties with him all those years ago was a way to protect him too, he guessed. But he also thought that all the years apart would have dulled Tsukishima’s seemingly intrinsic need to protect Tadashi, especially since Tsukishima had brought him here in the first place. He had obviously thought wrong, and Tadashi had to wonder what had happened to Tsukishima that he felt bold enough to stand up to not only his fellow gang members, but his boss as well. He obviously hadn't been cowardly all those years ago, but still, there was a difference between putting yourself in the way of a fist and a bullet.

“Yamaguchi.” His thoughts snapped back into the present when Sawamura said his name. “Since Tsukishima’s going to be hanging around you anyway, he can finish explaining what I started. I want you to get as much of our product ready to sell this weekend as humanly possible. I don’t want any gaps in our supply chain for Shiratorizawa to exploit. I hope you got enough sleep before this because I want you working nonstop. Talk to Hinata if you need caffeine, or feel free to do a line or two. I don’t care this time, just get as much done as possible.

“Okay everyone, you all know what to do, get going. Don’t fuck up, and don’t let Shiratorizawa kill you.”

On that cheerful note, everyone stood up and got moving. Tadashi felt a tall presence hovering behind him, and knew that Tsukishima was waiting for him to lead them back to the dark corner that housed the lab, so he made his way out of the board room as quick as possible. Tadashi hadn’t been awake enough to realize it before, but the energy in the main packing room had changed since he had first been brought into the compound. The people were still working efficiently, but there was a more tense set to their shoulders than there was earlier. News travelled fast, he guessed. 

Back in the lab, Tadashi beelined for the reaction he left simmering in the fume hood, making sure it was still behaving as it should be. He lifted the flask off the element a bit to check the bottom, and saw the beginnings of crystals forming. Against his better judgement, he got a bit excited. It was always satisfying when his projects went well on the first try. 

He felt Tsukishima’s eyes on him as he continued to tinker with his set up. “Sorry for calling you Tsukki earlier, I wasn’t thinking.”

He felt, more than saw, Tsukishima roll his eyes. “It's fine, just don’t do it in front of all of them again. They’re already giving me enough shit for bringing you here in the first place.”

“What, they can’t wrap their heads around you having a friend?” Tadashi teased.

Tsukishima clicked his tongue. “Something like that.”

They fell into a companionable silence as Tadashi finished setting up a second reaction station for himself. When he was done, he turned to look at Tsukishima in the eyes.

“You said you just didn’t like it when I called you Tsukki in front of everyone else,” Tadashi began.

“I did,” Tsukishima replied.

“Do you mind if I call you that when it’s just us?” he asked, hesitantly.

Tsukishima (Tsukki?) glanced to one side, then the other, letting his eyes bounce anywhere but Tadashi’s face. If Tadashi hadn’t been so focused on the other man’s face, he would have missed the quiet “whatever” that slipped from his lips.

Tadashi felt a grin split his face open wide, his eyes crinkling at the corners. “Alright then, Tsukki, grab that gas mask, you’re going to give me a hand.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> thank you so much for the positive response this has gotten so far!! every single interaction this gets makes my day
> 
> if you want you are welcome to talk to me about this on my [tumblr](http://acidickshrooms.tumblr.com/) or comment here!!


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dialogue chapter

Working with Yamaguchi was, if nothing else, nice. He didn’t demand much of Kei, was gentle with instructions and critiques, and had a calm energy about him that told Kei that he was completely in his element. 

Yamaguchi had him sitting at one of the tables with a big stack of blister packs, a mortar and pestle, and instructions to grind all the tablets in the packs as fine as possible. It was a soothing task that let Kei’s mind wander, and he found himself coming back to what happened in the boardroom. 

He was worried about Shiratorizawa, of course, but he was more focused on the interactions he had with Yamaguchi. _S_ _orry, Tsukki_. Two small words shouldn’t mean much, but Kei had felt something settle in himself when he heard it. No one had called him Tsukki in years, they wouldn’t dare, and Kei was surprised to feel that he had missed it. 

No matter how illogical he knew it to be, now that he had given himself permission to be a part of Yamaguchi’s life again he wanted everything back to the way it was as soon as possible. And something as simple as the stupid nickname played a part in that, so there was no way Kei could refuse Yamaguchi when he asked to call him it. 

“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi’s voice broke through his reverie, and Kei tamped down a blush that threatened to form on his cheeks as if he had been caught doing something he shouldn’t.

“What’s up?”

“Nothing really, it just felt too quiet in here.”

“Oh,” Kei paused, looking up across the table at the other man. “Do you want me to put some music on?”

“Well, you can if you want, but I was thinking about what I said this morning - you know, how I don’t really know you anymore - and I was wondering if we could like, fix that?” Yamaguchi asked with a quirk of his head.

Kei considered this. “How do you propose we do that?”

“I figured we could just ask each other stuff back and forth, you know? You don’t have to answer anything if you don’t want to.”

Kei huffed a laugh, “Yamaguchi, are you really asking me to play twenty questions with you?”

Yamaguchi squeaked. “I- I guess I am. Yes. I, Yamaguchi Tadashi, am asking you, Tsukishima Kei, to play a game meant for middle schoolers with me.”

“Well, when you ask so nicely, how could I refuse?” Kei drawled. He couldn’t remember the last time he felt so light. “You have to start though.”

Yamaguchi laughed, his eyes scrunching up. “Alright, alright, hmm… lets see, tough one here, what’s your favourite colour?”

Kei knew he could say anything to that question, that it didn’t really matter at all, but he considered it carefully instead. “Blue, I think,” he said. “Like… the sky at twilight, so dark that it's almost black.”

Yamaguchi smiled at his answer, and Kei knew they were both taking this seriously, regardless of how silly it seemed. 

“What’s your favourite thing you learned in school?” Kei asked, figuring that was a safe enough question.

Yamaguchi’s eyes lit up. “Glass is a _liquid_ , Tsukki.”

Kei looked up sharply from where he had resumed grinding up the pills. “The hell it is.” He had been thrown into more than one window, and those had felt plenty solid to him, refusing to shatter even under his weight.

“No, I promise it is, you can look it up. The atoms don’t form a stable crystal structure like every other solid, and so the particles actually move. They just move so slowly that we can’t really notice it. But if you look at really old windows you can sometimes see it. The bottom of the pane will be thicker than the top, even though when it was made they were equal.”

“Huh,” Kei said. “I can see why that’s your favourite thing, that’s pretty cool.”

“Thanks Tsukki!” Yamaguchi beamed. “I swear it almost caused a riot in my class when the professor told us...”

Kei snorted. “Your turn.”

Yamaguchi pondered for a second, then brightened. “This one should be right up your alley, what’s your favourite song right now?”

Kei bit his lip as he thought. Besides the classical music he’d been listening to today, he jumped genres depending on his mood. What he needed was a song that was neutral enough to not give anything away, but was respectable enough that he felt okay claiming it as a favourite.

“...Unless that’s too hard, I remember you hated people asking what your favourite song was… you don’t have to answer if you don’t want to. Or if you just want to say like an artist, or an album, or even a genre that’s cool too, no pressure.”

“Who Knows Where the Time Goes is good,” Kei blurted, just to shut him up.

Yamaguchi perked up and cocked his head. “I haven’t heard that one before I don’t think. Can you text me the name? I want to listen to it later.”

Kei muttered affirmatively, but internally, he was slamming his face into the table. Why did he have to say just a sentimental song? Sure, he’d been listening to it on repeat since he proposed getting Yamaguchi involved in Karasuno, but no one but him needed to know that. It was, objectively, a good song, but christ, the lyrics… if Yamaguchi looked those up, Kei was done for.

What was it about Yamaguchi that caused Kei to throw all semblance of common sense completely out the window? He basically just word-vomited every single conflicted feeling he had felt for Yamaguchi since high school directly in his face, and the man didn’t even know it.

God, he was terrible at this game.

“How long have you and your girlfriend been together?” Kei asks, just to pull himself out the spiral he had been slowly descending. 

Yamaguchi paused what he was doing and burst out laughing. Kei was alarmed. What about that was funny? He thought it was a perfectly normal question to ask. “My-” Yamaguchi started once he was able to catch his breath. ”Hana is _not_ my girlfriend, I thought I told you.”

“All you said was that your night was good and that you studied!”

“Alright fine!” Yamaguchi chuckled. “I didn’t explain it well enough, sorry Tsukki. I guess a lot of people would assume that, especially considering what I told you about our relationship. No, I’m not dating anyone, and Hana’s just my best friend.”

Oh. _Just_ his best friend. Just his best friend who wasn’t Kei, who he didn’t even know.

Yamaguchi seems to realize what he said in Kei’s silence. “Sorry, Tsukki.”

“Tch, don’t apologize to me,” Kei says, “you didn’t do anything wrong, and I don’t want to hear it. Just ask me your next question.”

Yamaguchi taps his chin with a gloved finger in contemplation. “What about you? Any special gentlemen in your life?”

Kei grits his teeth. Just the way Yamaguchi phrased the question reminded Kei of how much the other man knew about him. The avoidance of words like ‘boyfriend’ and ‘partner’ that always made Kei cringe. The casual mention of his sexuality, like Yamaguchi wasn’t the only person other than himself who knew. It all made Kei feel as if his skin had turned transparent against his will. He couldn’t tell if he loved it or hated it.

“What about my life screams ‘I can afford to care about someone,’” Kei spat. “Being close to anyone like that… it's just a liability for people in this line of work, and it would especially be one for me. Better for everyone if I’m on my own.”

Kei attacked the pills in front of him with renewed vigour to avoid looking at Yamaguchi. He didn’t want pity, let alone from Yamaguchi. He racked his brain for something to ask, just to shift the focus of the conversation off himself. Once again, his mouth worked faster than his brain however, and he blurted out “where are you applying for grad school?” 

Jesus Christ, of all the things he didn’t want to know, that had to be number one. 

Yamaguchi sighed, and Kei’s eyes snapped up to look at him. “To be completely honest, I have no idea. My grades are decent enough that I can probably get in anywhere I want to go… but I can’t decide where I want to go. I’ve been looking at schools internationally, and while that would be cool, nothing is really… exciting me at the moment.” Yamaguchi rolled his hands in the air, as if grasping for a definitive answer. “It’s silly, I’ve been saying I’m going to go for the longest time, but whenever I look into the specifics of it I just can’t make a decision.”

Oh, that wasn’t as bad of an answer as Kei had been expecting. Kei could work with uncertainty. 

The look Yamaguchi gives Kei at his silence is unreadable, and he turns around to resume tinkering in what he had called a fume hood earlier before Kei could make any sense of it. “Okay, let’s see… I already found out your favourite colour, I know you’re not seeing anyone… and I know you still eat strawberry shortcake, so that takes care of favourite food. I asked about music already... I know, why did Suga call you a demon?”

And just like that, Yamaguchi’s real reason for the silly game is revealed. Kei was grateful that Yamaguchi still had his back turned, because he knew his poker face had morphed into something vile.

“Ask me something else,” he spat.

Yamaguchi turned to face him, hands on his hips. “Alright, why don’t you want to tell me why you’re called that?”

Kei grimaced. “You don’t want to know.”

“Stop protecting me,” Yamaguchi snapped. “I know what I can handle, and I want to know.”

“Just trust me.”

“I can’t do that anymore, Tsukki!” Yamaguchi yells. “You made sure of that four years ago when you left. When _you_ left _me_.” Kei clicked his tongue and took out his frustration on the pills in front of him. “That doesn’t mean I don’t want to trust you though.” Yamaguchi moved around the table to stand beside him, just out of reach. “Telling me would go a long way towards that.”

Kei sighed resignedly and abandoned the task in front of him in favour of removing his glasses and scrubbing at his face. Kei was a rather large person, both in stature and personality, but sitting here on a stool with Yamaguchi’s pleading eyes staring down at him, he had never felt smaller in his life. 

He twisted in his chair to look Yamaguchi square in the eye. His hair had mostly fallen out of its bun because he kept pulling his gas mask on and off, and his eyes were bloodshot from exhaustion. “To answer your second question, I don’t want to tell you why they call me that because I don’t think you need to know.” _Liar,_ the voice in his head said, _you don’t want his opinion of you to change even more than it already has._ He had to give Yamaguchi something, though. No matter how much he dreaded it, Kei knew he deserved at least some semblance of honestly from him. 

“As for your first question… there’s a couple reasons. They started calling me that just within Karasuno because of how I joined, and then my… abilities, and once I started to make a name for myself around the city, that’s what people came to know me as, ‘The Demon of Karasuno.’” Kei snorts. “It used to sound so stupid to me, but it makes sense, so I just embrace now.”

“How does it make sense?” 

“It’s… biblical. They say I’ve fallen from grace and punish the wicked on the orders of the devil. It’s my job to get revenge. When someone fucks with us, I get rid of them in whatever way I think is appropriate” Kei couldn't look Yamaguchi in the eye, too afraid of seeing the judgement on his face.

“Oh,” was all Yamaguchi said. He reached across the table to grab the ground pills from him, as if his imagination wasn't conjuring up images of Kei doing horrible things to people like he knew it was. “Well, Tsukki, I asked you a hard question, how about you give me one more and then we can just put some music on.”

_Why did you really agree to help me?_

Kei had been dying to ask that since he drove away from the campus yesterday. Because it really was just him who we’d agreed to help, Yamaguchi didn’t have any stake in any other aspect of the agreement. Sure, it could have been motivated by concern for what they’d do if he refused, or even because of the money, but Kei knew Yamaguchi wasn’t that selfless, and that he was enterprising enough to come up with the cash some other way. _Why would someone who had everything going for him decide to risk it all on something like this?_

The question rested on the tip of his tongue, poised to be asked, but when Kei opened his mouth all he heard himself asking was “what’s your favourite colour?”

Yamaguchi sighed, as if he was disappointed in the question. Kei couldn’t blame him; he was too.

“It’s still gold, Tsukki, I haven’t changed.”

Kei knew that was a lie. Yamaguchi was completely different.

***

The rest of the weekend passed in a quiet blur. This was partially due to Tsukki’s obvious reluctance to talk about anything meaningful after Tadashi had tricked the truth from him, but around the 46 hour mark of being awake, Tadashi was barely able to form a coherent thought, much less make small talk. Tsukki, for his part, stayed awake in solidarity with him, but even the thrill of having him around again wasn’t enough to clear his mental fog near the end.

He had finished all the energy drinks he had brought some time Saturday, and as promised, Hinata provided more. Tadashi resolved never to drink anything Hinata gave him again when he started to feel his heartbeat in his eyelids. Tsukki offered him a line of coke instead when he was cutting himself one, but Tadashi politely declined. 

He knew he should be thinking about what he had found out about his old friend, but between trying to stay awake and trying to be as productive as possible, he had no more brainpower to devote to any sort of moral anguish about Tsukki's actions. Having it confirmed that his old friend was a murderer should have been a moment of pause for him, but he had a hard time connecting those kind of actions with the Tsukki Yamaguchi used to know. There were moments, such as when Tsukki had defended him so fiercely in the boardroom, that those images were able to line up in his mind. Yet as they spent more time around each other, relaxing their walls and barriers out of exhaustion, Yamaguchi forgot about all the horrible things Tsukki had done and just saw his friend. 

Sawamura had come around briefly when Tadashi let Tsukki know his first batch was done, and he had exclaimed at how pure it looked, telling him that Karasuno hadn’t been able to offer such high quality product in a long time. He came by again with Suga right as Tadashi was about to leave and their eyes widened at the volume of drugs he had produced on top of the many packages he had tested and marked for purity.

“Jesus, Tsukishima, where have you been hiding this guy? We could’ve used him years ago,” Suga said. “If this is what he can do in one weekend…”

Tsukki glared at him to back off, but it lost a lot of the heat behind it when he yawned immediately after.

Tsukki took him back home to his apartment with the promise to pick him up at the same time next Friday. Part of him was already dreading another weekend without rest, but the other part of him couldn’t wait to get back to it. 

Not only would he get to see Tsukki again, no matter how awkward it was, but he also found himself really enjoying the work. Even though he knew he was breaking a ton of laws and making things that had the potential to hurt a lot of people, he was pleased at how _good_ at it he was. There was barely any troubleshooting necessary for the process, and as long as he got his weights and volumes correct, he was able to turn out a good product. 

He woke up far too soon to his blaring alarm Monday morning. He had had enough sense last night to plug his phone in for the first time all weekend before he passed out, and was greeted with an ungodly amount of notifications from Hana. He sent off a quick _hey_ to let her know he was alive before climbing out of bed and heading for the shower. His phone lit up instantly with an incoming call, but he ignored it in favour of washing the weekend’s grime off. 

He dressed quickly once he was done and ran a quick hand through his hair in the mirror. The bags under his eyes had reached a rather impressive purple colour, he had to say. 

Armed with a jumbo thermos of coffee and his backpack full of textbooks, Tadashi began his short walk to campus from his apartment. His phone hadn’t stopped ringing all morning, but Tadashi was determined to ignore it until his brain was able to complete at least one coherent thought. 

As if Hana knew Tadashi had no intention of actually answering his phone, she was waiting for him at the entrance to the campus, a furious look on her face. 

“You’ve got to be _fucking kidding_ me, Yamaguchi Tadashi,” she snarled as she strode towards him. Tadashi braced himself for a slap to the face, or maybe a solid kick in the shin, but was surprised when Hana threw her arms around him and _squeezed_ . “Don’t you _ever_ do that to me again, Yamayama,” she muttered into his shirt as he rested his arms around her shoulders. “Do you have any idea how worried I was for you? I didn’t hear anything from you all weekend, and I just kept thinking the worst had happened to you. And then you have the _sheer_ _nerve_ to text me _hey_ and ignore all my calls… I swear, I couldn't decide whether to kill you or hug the shit out of you until about 30 seconds ago.”

“I’m sorry, Hana,” Tadashi breathed. “I was really busy, and then I forgot to charge my phone all weekend, and now I’m so tired I can barely see straight. I wanted to have a good answer for when you asked me what I did this weekend but I can’t even think past how sorry I am right now.”

The great thing about Hana was that if you said the right things in the right tone of voice, she was remarkably forgiving. Tadashi had learned a while ago that she was all bark and no bite, at least when it came to him. She just wanted to see him repentant and in one piece, and didn’t care much for her anger beyond that.

“Come on, asshole,” she said, releasing him from her death grip. “We’ve got class for two hours and then you are going to tell me what the hell you were up to this weekend over the coffee you bought me for making me worry about you so much.”

“Yes ma’am,” he replied, chuckling as Hana grabbed onto his arm as they walked as if he’d disappear if she didn’t hold onto him.

“So,” Hana started over her peace offering coffee in the same cafe Tadashi talked to Tsukki in on Friday. They had ditched Hana’s other friends easily enough by offering another of Tadashi’s completed assignments as a distraction, and now Tadashi had no excuse but to come clean. “Where the hell were you this weekend?”

There was a very fine line between telling Hana enough to leave him alone and getting Hana killed. 

“I was in a lab all weekend,” he said.

“Not one on campus, I checked all of them when you didn’t answer me all Saturday,” Hana stated.

“No, not one at the university. But I can’t tell you where it is.”

“You were there for the guy who you talked to on Friday.”

Tadashi had to suppress a smile at that. “You could say that.”

“Who is he to you?”

Tadashi cocked his head in contemplation. “He’s… someone who used to know me better than anyone else. It was probably the same for him, but I’m not sure. Now it’s just… complicated.”

“Is it complicated because of his… work?” Hana asked, tentatively.

“Mmm, his work is both the least and most complicated part of our relationship. It’s both the reason we don’t know each other anymore and the reason why he came back to me.”

“So you’re working for him then.”

“More with him, to an extent, but yeah.”

“Yamayama, are you sure this is a good idea? This doesn’t seem all that safe,” she asked earnestly, grabbing his hands where they rested in the table between them.

Tadashi snorted at that and turned his gaze to the ceiling in exasperation. “It’s a lot safer for me to do this than not, and I trust Tsukki enough to know he wouldn’t ask me if he couldn’t keep me safe.”

“So his name is Tsukki.”

“Shit,” he cursed, pulling his hands back. “Don’t repeat that name, _ever_. I mean it.”

Hana raised her hands in front of herself in mock surrender. “Sorry Yama,” she said, not looking sorry at all. “What are you doing _with_ him then?” she asked, words dripping in innuendo.

Tadashi scoffed. “ _Nothing_ like that, for sure.”

“Mhmm, sure Yamayama. You’re doing a whole lot of _nothing_ with the person who ‘used to know you better than anyone else’, that makes sense,” she teased.

“It was never like that with him, even before… there was a time where I thought, maybe… but then everything happened and the time for anything has long passed.”

Hana just stared at him, contemplative. “What?” he asked.

“Mmm, nothing, I think. Anyway, what were you actually doing all weekend?”

Tadashi sighed “I can’t tell you that, and I’d appreciate you not asking that again.”

“So this is going to be a recurring thing, then, if I would be asking about it more than once.” Hana plopped her head into her hands with a sigh.

“Yes, I think so.” Tadashi almost whispered into the table.

“Well,” she said, after a pregnant pause. “If you’re going to be off playing badass every weekend, I’m rescheduling our study date to Thursdays. I’m still going to need my best friend time before you go MIA,” Hana stated firmly.

Tadashi snorted softly and looked up at her. The expression on her face was one of fierce protectiveness, and for all her nosiness, Tadashi knew she’d leave him alone from now on. She was probably a better friend than Tadashi deserved, willing to give him advice but also allowing him to make his own mistakes without judgement.

“Come on, the girls are going to run out of assignments to copy if we don’t get back soon.” Hana said, smoothing her skirt as she stood up. She held out a hand to pull him up and along as he shouldered both of their bags.

They walked across campus in silence, hand in hand. “You know,” Hana said. “I hope you know what you’re doing.”

“Yeah,” Tadashi replied darkly. “I hope I do too.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who Knows Where the Time Goes by Fairport Convention is one of the best songs of all time is all i gotta say
> 
> Thanks so much for your comments n kudos <333
> 
> If you want to talk to me about this or anything hq feel free to comment or message me on my tumblr @acidickshrooms !


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Today I offer you pining. Tomorrow? Who knows...

Falling into routine was easy for Kei. 

He spent his weekdays sparring with Kageyama and his nights running around the city for Sawamura, just like before. The business with Shiratorizawa had him busier than normal as word spread that tensions were rising between the two organizations, but even the undercurrent of anxiety he felt about it began to feel at home under his skin. 

Granted, there were days that stuck out more than most, like when they found out that low level Shiratorizawa members had been running around purchasing information on Karasuno’s activities from anyone who would sell it. Sawamura hadn’t let Kei go after the gang members personally, but he was allowed to make a very clear example of the people who sold them out. Shimizu had let him borrow a lovely set of butterfly knives for the job, and he was sad to give them back when he was done. 

His weekends became his favourite time. 

As Yamaguchi got more comfortable both with the work and with Kei, he reverted to his bubbly self when they were alone. He opened up, and Kei got to learn all about Yamaguchi’s classes, his friends, and all the other normal woes that go with being a college student because of it. 

He learned that Yamaguchi allows far too many people to cheat off his assignments because he feels guilty for finishing them so early. He learned about Yamaguchi’s forays into the university dating scene, always unsuccessful for anything more than a one night stand. He learned that Hana is a lot better of a friend than Kei ever was, incredibly thoughtful and forgiving, but also capable of bringing Yamaguchi to his senses when he needs it — at least how Yamaguchi tells it.

In exchange, Yamaguchi finds out about Kei’s new life. 

He only tells him about the more insignificant details of his life — that he goes and sees Akiteru every other week, that his favourite coffee shop is twelve blocks away from Karasuno, but that he thinks the walk is worth it every morning. Kei can see how much Yamaguchi treasures any information Kei lets slip, and it makes his chest tight. 

It reminds him that he wasn’t the only person to lose his best friend all those years ago.

The weeks quickly slipped into months as the seasons changed from winter to spring. It had been quiet lately — Shiratorizawa was licking their wounds after Tanaka had beaten the shit out of Semi. He caught him leaving a bar by himself a week ago, and from what Kei had heard, Shiratorizawa’s resident pretty boy was going to be sporting some very choice facial scarring from now on.

It was on one of these quiet Sundays in April that Yamaguchi broke their routine. 

“Tsukki?”

“Mmm?” Kei responded sleepily, his chin propped in his hand. He was supposed to be doing something, but he had forgone his task in favour of staring at the other man some time ago.

It's these quiet times they spend together that make him think that in another life he could have fallen in love with Yamaguchi. 

These moments let him pretend they’re just spending their weekend together, Yamaguchi cooking breakfast and Kei helping — the picture of domestic bliss. There was something about these moments that felt like coming home to Kei, like a place to rest for the first time in years.

But then the illusion shatters when Kei takes in the bigger picture — the gas mask that Yamaguchi has around his neck, the trays of drying crystals along the countertops, the bricks of cocaine lining the shelves — and he brings himself crashing back down to earth. There’s no reality in which Kei can have what he wants. There’s just no way Yamaguchi could withstand all of the sharp edges of Kei’s world, no matter how accepting he’s been about everything so far.

“My graduation ceremony is coming up next week,” Yamaguchi told the wall.

“Oh, I guess it’s about that time.” Kei replied, still trying to shake off his daydream. 

“I was wondering… would you want to come?” Kei felt his eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “It’s just… my mom hasn’t exactly been in the picture for a long time, you know… and I got these tickets but anyone I’d give them to is going to be graduating with me. I don’t know, I figured I’d ask but you don’t have to come if you don’t want to.”

“When is it?”

Yamaguchi turned around “W–what, you mean you want to come?”

Kei rolled his eyes. “Do you want me there?”

“I mean, I don’t want to inconvenience you–”

“Not what I asked. Do you want me there?” Kei repeated. 

Yamaguchi turned a brilliant shade of red. “Y–yes, I’d like that very much.”

“Then when is it?” Kei teased, leaning on his chair to get into Yamaguchi’s space, making Yamaguchi flush even more.

Kei was delighted when he learned that angling his body towards the other man, or holding eye contact for a little longer than normal, still made Yamaguchi blush as brilliantly as it used to. 

“It’s next Friday,” Yamaguchi answered.

“Perfect,” Kei said as he stood up to fish his phone out of the pocket of his dress pants. “That gives us just enough time to get you fitted for a suit worth owning, instead of whatever you already have.”

“There’s nothing wrong–”

“Oh, I’m sure there is. You were going to wear the suit from high school graduation, weren’t you?”

The glare Yamaguchi shoots at him tells him he’s right.

“Even if only a few of us know it, you’re still representing Karasuno, and Karasuno only ever wears the best,” Kei said as he typed out a few quick messages on his phone.

“I can’t exactly afford a brand new suit, especially an expensive one,” Yamaguchi protested.

Kei waved him off. “Don’t worry about it. Suga offered to buy you an entirely new wardrobe after your first weekend.”

“W–what’s wrong with my clothes?” Yamaguchi blustered, looking down at what Kei had begun to think of as his uniform — a worn black T-shirt, even more distressed black jeans, and his boots. 

“I don’t think Suga has anything against them,” Kei said. “He just likes to spoil people, and his favourite way to do it is with gratuitous use of a credit card and lots of unsolicited fashion advice.” 

Yamaguchi snorted.

“We’re going tomorrow night at 9 and getting you a suit from the best tailor in Japan,” Kei said with a tone that he hoped left no more room for argument.

Yamaguchi stuck out his bottom lip in an adorable pout and sighed. “There’s really no way I’m getting out of this, is there.”

Kei smirked. “I’m happy to see you’re as smart as you’re supposed to be. I’ll be by to pick you up at 8:30 tomorrow.”

“Mmm, sure Tsukki, I’ll make it work,” Yamaguchi said as he went back to tinkering with his reaction set up.

Kei was pleased. He had been trying to come up with some reason to spend time with Yamaguchi outside of their weekends. Not that he wasn’t grateful for that time, but there were different implications to hanging out because you worked together versus simply because you enjoyed each other’s company.

If there was one thing Kei was willing to admit to himself, it was that he had missed his friend a lot more than he thought he did. 

It was as if Yamaguchi coming back into his life woke him up to all that he had been missing out on. When he joined Karasuno, he had made himself a promise to separate his previous life from his new one as much as he possibly could. Any sense of frivolity was carved out of his life — he stopped laughing (as rare as it had been before), he never let anyone get close to him, he let himself get cruel. His relationship with his brother — the only person he wasn’t able to completely extricate from his life — splintered. 

But as he felt himself growing closer to Yamaguchi, he felt his edges softening. His retorts to the other Karasuno members became more teasing than hostile. He found himself more patient with everyone’s ribbing when they overhear Yamaguchi call him ‘Tsukki’, the other man seemingly incapable of remembering to only call him that when it was just the two of them. From the knowing looks some of the keener members throw him, he can tell the others are starting to notice as well. 

Kei’s not sure if these changes are all in his best interest, but he finds himself unable to care. Being able to see Yamaguchi’s brilliant smile directed at him every weekend, even as the other man knows what Kei is, is worth it a hundred times over.

Sure, Yamaguchi’s never actually seen the bloodier aspects of the business, but even knowing as much as he does hasn’t seemed to have changed his opinion of him. When he told Yamaguchi even the smallest of truths all those months ago, Kei was sure that there was no way Yamaguchi would be able to be around him without fear. Yet it obviously took a lot more to rattle him than Kei had thought. 

Kei knew that one day he’d have to come clean about what he’d really gotten Yamaguchi into, and that that would be the day where Yamaguchi would leave Kei’s life forever, one way or another. 

But Kei still had time.

He still had time.

Yamaguchi was flushed when Kei picked him up, his hair sticking to his forehead in places.

“Ah, sorry Tsukki, I lost track of time at the library and had to run home to meet you. Hopefully they don’t turn us away because I’m all sweaty,” he said, when Kei asked what was up.

Kei had to suppress a smile. There was absolutely no way that a little bit of sweat was the worst thing their tailor had dealt with when outfitting Karasuno. “I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

They had passed the rest of the drive in companionable silence, something they’d both gotten a lot more comfortable with over the months they’d been spending together.

When Kei pulled into a parking lot on the roughest side of town, Yamaguchi stared at the group of people standing in front of a bar with hungry looks in their eyes in confusion.

“Are you sure we’re in the right place to buy suits? Better yet, can we leave the car here?”

Kei snorted. “You do remember who I am, right?”

Yamaguchi still looked apprehensive, but followed him out of the car without further complaint. 

Kei lit a cigarette and led them down a series of narrow side streets, glancing behind himself every once in a while to make sure Yamaguchi was still there. Kei doubted anyone would be stupid enough to do anything to Yamaguchi with him there; but still, he had to fight the urge to grab the other’s hand and pull him close. 

He stepped down a staircase leading off the street, stopping in front of the grimy steel door at the bottom to grind his cigarette out with his shoe.

“This is the place?” Yamaguchi asked dubiously.

“Come on, you’ll see.”

Kei opened the door, stepping onto a plush red carpet. The room was warmly lit by a series of sconces that lined the walls, throwing kaleidoscopes of light on the dark suits that lined the walls. 

“Welcome, welcome!” the bespectacled man behind the counter called with a smile. “You must be Yamaguchi! It’s wonderful to meet a friend of Tsukishima’s. My name is Takeda, and this is my shop.” 

“Nice to meet you too, sir!” Yamaguchi said.

“Oh, no need to be so formal, please, come in. What can I do for you?”

“He needs the full works, please, Takeda, for next Friday if it's not too much trouble” Kei spoke up from his position near the door.

“None at all! You know you guys have had me do a lot more on a lot tighter schedule,” Takeda said with a laugh. “Come, Yamaguchi, let’s get started.”

Takeda leads them deeper into his store to where a series of mirrors are set up around a small podium.

“If you wouldn’t mind taking your jacket off and stepping up there, I’ll start by taking some quick measurements so I know where to start for sizes,” Takeda tells Yamaguchi.

He does as he’s instructed, handing his battered leather coat to Kei to hold when he settles in the only chair nearby. 

“So, Yamaguchi, I hear you’re graduating from university soon,” Takeda said as he lined up the measuring tape from around his neck with Yamaguchi’s shoulders. “That’s really admirable. It must have been hard to balance school on top of working for Karasuno; I know Daichi can be pretty demanding of you boys.”

“It hasn’t been too bad,” Yamaguchi replied. “Since I’m just working on the weekends, I can do everything I need to for school during the week.”

Takeda looks up from where he’s measuring Yamaguchi’s waist. “Oh, I didn’t realize you were only part time — it was my understanding that you were the only person behind Karasuno’s supply.”

“He is,” Kei said, “but he’s also got a special arrangement with us.”

“Yeah, Tsukki just asked me to help out when I can until I go to grad school,” Yamaguchi added cheerfully.

Takeda makes eye contact with Kei in the mirror in front of them, probably curious as to how such a generous arrangement came to be. He was always too perceptive for Kei’s liking.

Kei pulled his face into a carefully neutral expression. If Takeda wanted to know something, he’d have to ask directly (so that Kei could refuse to answer).

“I see. Well, that’s all your measurements I need for now, so I’ll be right back with some things for you to try on.”

As Takeda runs around his store collecting things, Yamaguchi steps off the podium and in front of Kei’s chair.

“I didn’t say too much, did I?” 

Looking up at Yamaguchi is unusual for Kei. Even though they’re both tall, Kei has been just enough taller to look down at Yamaguchi for as long as they’ve known each other. He can see Yamaguchi’s long eyelashes brush against his freckled cheeks underneath his shaggy hair at this angle. It’s a subtle type of softness Kei didn’t know existed.

“No, you’re perfect.”

“I think I’ve got everything,” Takeda called, hands full of hangers and clothes.

Kei can see a faint blush on the tops of Yamaguchi’s cheeks as he turns to help Takeda. The tailor corners him into one of the fitting rooms instead of letting Yamaguchi take anything from him, closing him in with enough formal wear to outfit an entire wedding party and instructions to try on whatever he wants.

“Okay, I think I figured everything out,” Yamaguchi said from inside the fitting room after a few minutes of silence. “It’s been a while since I’ve worn something this formal, sorry it took so long.”

Yamaguchi throws the curtain open, and Kei feels something in his chest seize. The smooth black fabric clings to Yamaguchi’s frame, accentuating Yamaguchi’s surprisingly broad shoulders and narrow waist. He forwent the tie, instead choosing to leave the top two buttons of the white shirt underneath undone, exposing the sharp jut of his collarbones. Something about the juxtaposition of his clothes and the disheveledness of his hair made Yamaguchi look positively obscene.

Kei had to tear his eyes away from the way the pants clung to Yamaguchi’s legs when he felt Yamaguchi’s eyes on him.

“Do you like this one, Tsukki?”

Kei tries to subtly clear his throat, but from the look Takeda shoots him, he knows he was completely un-subtle. “Looks good.”

“You think so? I know it feels kind of plain, but I feel like I can get more use out of it that way.”

“That’s smart,” Kei replied. 

Yamaguchi hummed, staring at himself in the mirror, turning this way and that.

“It fits you very well already, Yamaguchi. I’ll barely have to make any adjustments to it,” Takeda said. “Is this the one?”

“Hmm, I think so, it’s pretty much perfect.”

“I agree. Let’s have you hop back onto the podium there and I’ll pin it for hemming.”

Takeda works quickly, pinning the ends of the pant legs so they just brush the top of Yamaguchi’s shoes, and taking the waist of the jacket and the shirt in a little bit so it fits snuggly when it’s buttoned up.

“Before you take everything off, I have to ask,” Takeda said as he steps back to assess his work, “is there any particular reason why you didn’t put on a tie?”

Yamaguchi reaches a hand up to pull on a lock of his hair at the nape of his neck. “Um, it’s just not really my style. They feel a little too formal for me.”

“Can I make a suggestion then?”  
“Of course.”

There’s an excited twinkle in Takeda’s eye as he walks past Kei to the desk he was behind when they came in. “Not many people come in looking for these, so I kind of hide them away, but there’s something that tells me you’ll like it.”

He comes back with a narrow black box in his hand. 

“Button up your shirt the rest of the way and I’ll show you,” Takeda instructed, and Yamaguchi quickly does as he’s told. Kei stood up, curious. 

Takeda opened the box to reveal a simple piece of braided leather with gleaming silver caps on the end. But the real draw is the large obsidian stone encased in a finely detailed silver setting. Kei looked at Yamaguchi, who’s smiling wide.

“You’re right, I like it very much,” Yamaguchi breathed. “Can I try it on?”

“Of course. They’re a little tough to do by yourself though, it’s better if someone helps you.”

“Tsukki?” Yamaguchi looked up at Kei, as if he could ever refuse any request Yamaguchi made.

Kei gathered the cord up in his hands, threading one end of it under Yamaguchi’s collar carefully. He grabbed both ends of the cord to even them out before taking the stone from the box Takeda held. With one hand holding both ends of the cord around Yamaguchi’s neck, he carefully threaded them through the back of the setting and pushed it up until it sat flush against Yamaguchi’s throat. 

He felt Yamaguchi’s breath softly against his face, he’d gotten a lot closer to him than he thought. Their eyes met, and Kei inhaled sharply. He’s still holding onto the cord, keeping Yamaguchi right where he is.

Takeda cleared his throat, and Kei dropped the ends of the cord as if they burned him. 

“Look in the mirror and tell me what you think, Yamaguchi,” Takeda said kindly.

As Yamaguchi looked in the mirror, Takeda turned to Kei to give him an all too understanding smile, which Kei returned with an admittedly immature glare.

“I love it, it really suits me,” Yamaguchi said. “What do you think, Tsukki?”

“You look nice,” Kei said, determined not to give himself away anymore than he already has.

“Just nice?”

Kei can think of about 80 other adjectives to describe what he thinks of Yamaguchi. He looks handsome, completely adorable, and remarkably beautiful. He looks like a dream.

But Kei is not allowed to think these things about a friend he’s going to betray, especially when that friend is Yamaguchi.

“Yeah, just nice.”

***

As Tadashi sits in the crowded auditorium surrounded by his fellow graduates, he finds himself reflecting on the way he’s spent his last four years. 

There’s something about hindsight that turns everything rose-coloured. 

Hours spent studying are worth it for the grade you earned with all your hard work. A bleary all-nighter becomes the time you had the most important conversation with a friend. Brutal hangovers are written over by stories from the night before. 

Aching loneliness becomes the strength to stand on your own for the first time in your life.

He knows he’s spent the last four years growing both academically and emotionally, yet lately he can’t help but feel like he’s spent all that time circling back to where he started.

As if sensing his unease, Hana grabbed his hand from where it was fisting in his gown, tugging it into her own lap with a squeeze. He smiled softly at her, grateful for her calming presence beside him. 

There’s really no reason for him to be as anxious as he is — his assignments are all in, exams are over. He’d done all the work, all that’s left is to walk across the stage. 

_It’s the end of an era,_ he mused. Not the end of his academic career, in theory, but it is the end of his undergrad years. Hana had been offered a spot in a university in England for grad school; she’d be leaving in a week to get settled before her term started in the fall. The rest of his friends and acquaintances weren’t planning on continuing school past undergrad, choosing to travel for a year or jumping right into the workforce. He was the only one without any plans. 

He knew he wanted to continue his education — he’s known that since before he even started college. Yet, every single time he sat down to try and even look into graduate programs, he found himself frozen and unable to even turn the computer on.

It’s not like he needs to make a decision immediately, anyway. Thanks to his work over the weekends, he’s got more money than he knows what to do with. Even after paying off all his loans and putting away what he needs to for tuition, he’s got more than enough to live off of for at least a year already. There’s still time.

Tadashi felt his hand slip out of Hana’s as her name is called and she gets up. He clapped wildly as she walked across the stage, letting out a whoop when she smiled at him. 

His name is called right after, and as he stood up he heard a remarkably loud screech of “yeaaaahhh Yamaguchi!!!” and wolf whistling from the back of the auditorium. He felt his cheeks go beet red, and fought the urge to turn around and see who it was until he received his degree and on his way back to his seat. 

Lo and behold, the entire back of the room is lined with intimidating people in crisp black suits, and in the middle of the group is a decidedly less-intimidating redhead. In classic Hinata fashion, he’d been jumping up and down and waving at Tadashi, who returned the gesture politely. Kageyama had a death grip on Hinata’s shoulder, desperately trying to get him to calm down, but the energetic arsonist was proving difficult to settle down. Tadashi stifled a laugh as he watched Sawamura come up behind Hinata with a menacing smile and whisper something into his ear, causing him to immediately quiet and glue himself to the wall. 

He turned around in his chair and scanned the back of the room quickly, and realized that most of, if not all, the upper echelon of Karasuno was standing there. He saw Nishinoya whispering to the tall hacker he’s only seen once before, at the introductory meeting, with Tanaka standing beside them with one hand on Shimizu’s hip. Suga was between Ennoshita and Kageyama, looking serenely blissful, meaning he probably toked up before they came. Sawamura stuck himself between Hinata and Kageyama, arms crossed in an attempt to separate them. And standing somewhat separate from the rest was Tsukki, looking a combination of annoyed and amused.

Does Tadashi ever want to know what the hell led to everyone coming here today.

“I recognized your one friend when I looked earlier, but do you know the rest of them?” Hana asked with a tug on his sleeve, pulling him out of his amusement. He realized that everyone else is looking at the crowd at the back with a mixture of concern and fear, and that those looks were now being directed his way too, since they cheered for him.

“They’re my… coworkers,” Tadashi answered with amusement, facing forward to watch the rest of the ceremony.

As soon as it’s over though, Tadashi made a beeline for the back of the room, shoving through the crowd.

“Let him through,” a booming voice announced, and suddenly the crowd parts around him, carving him a path directly to Sawamura, the source of the call. 

“Thanks,” Tadashi said, somewhat out of breath from trying to force himself through the sea of people.

“Ah, don’t worry about it, Yamaguchi. What’s the use in scaring the shit out of everyone if you can’t use it to your advantage sometimes,” Sawamura winked. “Let’s get out of here though, I’m getting sweaty just standing here with all these people.”

They find a spot to stand on the lawn outside big enough for the large group easily enough with Sawamura barking at anyone who dared to get in their way and Kageyama and Tsukki glaring daggers at anyone who dared get too close.

“Congratulations Yamaguchi!!” Hinata yelled, launching himself at Tadashi for a hug.

“Oof, thanks Hinata.”

“Did you hear us cheering for you when they called your name?”

“I’m pretty sure the entire country heard you,” Tadashi teased, moving the smoky-smelling boy off him. “Not that I don’t appreciate the support, but what are you guys doing here?” he asked, glancing around the loose circle they’ve formed.

“Tsukishima told us where he was going and we bugged him for long enough until he agreed to take us along, basically,” Suga said. 

Tadashi looked up at Tsukki with a raised eyebrow.

“It was less irritating for me if I just brought them along.”

“Sure, Tsukki, thank you.”

Tsukki clicked his tongue and rolled his eyes, and Tadashi bumped their shoulders together playfully to show he understood the unsaid “you’re welcome.”

“Ignoring how cute that was,” Suga chimed, “take your gown off and let me see the suit I bought you!”

Tadashi blushed as he took off the royal blue garment, placing it in Tsukki’s open hand. Suga made a twirling motion with his finger, and Tadashi obliged him, feeling very much like a prize show dog at the way Suga oohed and awed at him.

“Well, I think that was money well spent, don’t you agree Daichi?”

“If you’re happy, I’m happy, Suga. But yes, you look very nice Yamaguchi.”

“Th-thanks,” Yamaguchi stuttered.

“I know you’re coming in tonight, but while we have you here, we’d like to ask you something if you don’t mind,” Daichi said.

“Of course not, what’s up?”

“Well, now that you’re graduated, and done school for the summer, we were wondering if you wouldn’t mind working more regularly now,” Suga said. “I know it’s not what we had originally agreed, but it would really benefit us, and we can pay you more proportionally.”

Tadashi thought about it for a second. It wasn’t like he had any other plans, in fact he had already been struggling with coming up with things to do now that Hana was going to be moving away and Tsukki worked most days. 

“It makes our jobs easier if you are able to, Yamaguchi,” Shimizu interrupted his thoughts. Tadashi snapped his attention to her, it was the first time he’d heard her speak. “With everything else going on, having a steady supply would help us greatly.”

He looked at the faces around him, all of which seemed to be in awe of Shimizu. He knew she was well respected within Karasuno, but he hadn’t realized how much until he saw Nishinoya sniffle and whisper “she’s so inspiring.”

He looked up at Tsukki beside him, asking silent consent to intrude into his life even more than before. When Tsukki nodded his head slightly, he broke into a grin.

“I’d love to, thank you for the opportunity.”

Later, when Tadashi had changed out of his formal clothes and Tsukki had taken him to Karasuno, Tsukki gave him a graduation present.

“Yamaguchi,” Tsukki called.

Tadashi leaned out of the closet he was rummaging in to look for a funnel to replace the one he’d accidentally warped with hot steam. “Yes?”

“Aki wants to see you,” he said, staring at his phone with malice.

“Really?” he asked with a sharp inhale.

“Yeah, he just texted me.”

“I’d love that.” He hadn’t seen Tsukki’s older brother since he was in the hospital, and while he had heard a few things about him around Karasuno, he had been wanting to see Akiteru in person for a while now. 

“Does tomorrow work for you?” Tsukki asked.

“Don’t I have to stay here?”

“Not anymore, you get to work the same hours as the rest of us. Which is good news for me, I get to sleep on the weekends again.”

“What? You haven’t been sleeping while I’m here?” Tadashi was shocked — he had assumed Tsukki had been sleeping while he did.

“Don’t worry about it. I wouldn’t have been able to anyway,” Tsukki said with a wave.

“Why not? It’s perfectly comfortable down here, and it’s not too noisy.”

“It’s not that, it’s just – look, I don’t trust the guys here that much.”

“You go out and get in literal gunfights with them at your back all the time!” Tadashi shouted, incredulous.

“That’s my life, I trust them enough with that.”

“But not with mine,” Tadashi said, more of a statement than a question.

Tsukki looked him straight in the eye. “No, not with yours.”

Tadashi huffed. It was hard to stay mad at Tsukki sometimes. “You’re impossible sometimes, you know.”

He heard Tsukki chuckle under his breath, and couldn’t help but smile as well.

“I’m going to tell your brother you’re being stupid about protecting me.” Tadashi teased.

“Oh trust me, he already knows.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks again for all the comments and kudos!
> 
> Feel free to talk to me about this or anything hq in the comments or on my tumblr @ acidickshrooms :)

**Author's Note:**

> if you're reading this i love you.  
> this is the first creative writing i've done in like 4 years but i needed to exorcise this demon. i have the first 3 chapters fully written, so those should all go up soon, but i can't promise any sort of upload schedule.  
> i mean it with the graphic depictions of violence, its going to get bloody, but i'll do warnings at the beginning of the chapter so you know to expect it.  
> i really appreciate anyone willing to read my little story and i hope you enjoy it :)


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